texomalaser

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Heres my 3.5 cents worth (due to high gas prices). . Tom. Can you perhaps make the Extra 260 gear work on the plane or similar? The original has a horeshoe type gear on it...But..Im not complaining. Its an awesome plane. But I think throwing that gear on her would make it look even more scale...Whadu u think?

Scott S.

charrua

My Feedback: (47)

Ok I got it now,,I wasn't sure what it was,,,and now looking at that picture it make sence,,,,that's a great idea of hinging.
and I guess you are right it makes the hole thing looks sooth.

What would the price be? will it come with some kind of hrdware pack?

one more,,,which one flies better a YAK 54 or a this Sukhoi?

v-snap

My Feedback: (18)

Yea the su-31 had the straight legs if I remember right...I might be looking foward to a white one myself..

rctom

This plane, although it's 35% scale, costs me almost as much as the 41% Extra because of the covering job and the hinging, etc. I think it's going to be $895. Still, compared to the other planes on the market that's a pretty good price.

We of course will have a hardware package for it.

And surely you cannot expect me to say that a Yak flies better, but who will believe me if I say the Sukhoi is the best flying plane out there?

I think they are very close to identical. The layouts are almost the same, same radial cowl, same huge control surfaces. The Sukhoi wing is slightly below the centerline and the tail is slightly above.

TF

charrua

My Feedback: (47)

I have been looking for a 35% for a while and at this price [X(] I think I found it!!! also for what you mention on earlier post at only 26 +lb it's pretty light also,,,right????

When it's the maiden flight due,,,,I'd love to see a video of it i nflight!!!!

v-snap

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Hey Tom then there must be a HUUUUUGE discount for a white version eh???

Tired Old Man

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Picture Note;

I take and post large file size pictures so they can be downloaded and used again without going to a website. If you want to use this stuff later, build a file somewhere on your computer and label it something you will remember. Right click the pictures and then click on "save as" or "save picture as" and move them to the file. Later you can go into them, open them up with Microsoft Picture Manager or something that will let you enlarge them to full screen and still have good resolution.
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I just went and picked up the prototype at a UPS terminal center in Sacramento, CA. After losing the first one to Greyhound thieves, there was nooooo way I was taking a chance with the second one and let them deliver it. Let alone the thought of some delivery dude walking on top of it in the aisle space of his brown truck.

This baby is BIG!! It comes in the usual box inside a box, each part of the contents individually plastic wrapped, and then wrapped again in that thin packing foam. The main wings and the fuselage are shipped separately due to their size. The primary box, the fuselage, is currently about 73 inches long, 18-1/2 inches wide, and 16-1/2 inches deep. If you decide to get one of these later I suggest you step up a little and go for priority shipping via Greayhound so you have a useful tracking number and a hard delivery date, or use UPS airfreight (Ocean/Air services) and pick it up at a terminal if you can. That will reduce the chance of transit damage considerably. I had no damage on this one at all. It may cost a little more, but IMO it's well worth it and eliminates a lot of delays and hassles later.

I'm not going to go into the finish in any detail since the prototypes are done in Chinacote to reduce the developmental costs. It's absolutely beautiful and everthing matches very well, but I believe the production planes will be done in Ultracote/Orocover. Most of you already know that Orocover is the same as Ultracote so that should be a pretty easy way to get more if you ever need it.

I haven't done any type of weight stuff since I don't have a scale at the house, but this big girl is light. The constructon methods and techniques have changed tremendously since the initial introductions of the Giles and 28% Edges and Extras. It looks to be extremely well done, with lots and lots of room for about anything you may want to put in there. For those interested, the inside width of the cowl is a tad between 11-1/2 and 11-3/4 inches. It comes with C/F wing tubes for the main wing and horizontal stab, so that little bit we have all been spending for the C/F products has already been taken care of.

It came with hardware, but I want to do this one different from Tom's to illustrate some latitude in set up arrangements. My intentions have been to use the new BME115 twin, barring that, a Brison 6.4 (105cc) twin. I have an RCBlimpro titanium tailwheel and a sheet of his composite sandwhich for an engine baffle. Great products that can be ordered from all the good places. Of course SWB and Fromeco products will play a big part, along with JR 8611 servos all around except throttle. You will need some loooong servo extensions for the elevator servos. I'll post some lengths and quantities as I move along.

Here's a few pics of the plane as it's coming out of the box for the first time. I would expect that there will be a few changes between the prototypes and production planes, but so far it does not look like much will be needed. Oh, one other thing. Out of the box with the hinges in place I have 60 degrees of deflection at the elevators, both directions Note that some of the shipping plastic wrap is still on some of the parts in the pictures, so don't get excited about wrinkles. It came out of the box with none.

Pardon any typos. I'm kind of excited. Now enough of this writing stuff, I have some real work to do

charrua

My Feedback: (47)

sweet!!!! more pics would be nice

So it looks like you could remove the control surfaces if you wanted to after the plane it's built right???? instead of having to cut a robart tipe hinge????

Tired Old Man

My Feedback: (1)

The removal of the surfaces after assembly would be determined by how you secured the C/F hinge tubes, but absolutely yes. I'll do a few more pics but you guys have to understand I want to fly this thing, not make love to it I'll see what the aileron deflections are in a few.

Speaking of hinge tubes, unlike a Comp Arf the tubes are only accessable at one end of each flight surface. That's very good. That eliminates any concerns of them working their way out to the outside and dispenses with any means of securement. The elevator tubes are locked in when the stabs are installed on the fuselage. The rudder tube will either need to be secured with a dollop of silicone on the bottom, or as I intend to do, which is make and install a tailwheel steering tiller that will mount directly over the tube access hole. The tubes in the main wing panels can be easily secured by installing a removable lite ply cap over the access hole. Even if you did nothing at all, they would not come out.

Note:
The tailwheel will block the removal of the rudder hinge tube. It will be a bit of a chore to remove the rudder to make it shorter for transport.
Removal of the horizontal stabs will be dependant on how the owner arranges the servo extension lengths and connectors. The extension run for the elevators is quite long, so try to eliminate as many connectors as possible to maintian higher current levels.

OK, pictures speak louder than words. The tape measure is on the root of one of the ailerons, and there are pics of both the elevator and aileron deflections as it came out of the box. I've done nothing with it other than fondle and photograph it so far.

charrua

My Feedback: (47)

very nice pics,,,except for two of them but nothing that photoshop can't fix!!!!


I really like the hinging on this thing!!!! it makes it look more like a real plane!!!!!

Tired Old Man

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One more set of pics and I'm going to have to start on her.

Tom and I discussed my not using a hardware kit on this one. Both from my personal choices and for letting people know of different options that they may decide to go with. I guess one of the factory hardware packages slipped though with this one so I thought I'd include a couple of pictures of how it's been done. There is a whole bunch of other stuff that would be part of the optional hardware kits but that will not be part of my end of this prototype build/fly/review/discussion.

A side note here is kind of important. Going with any hardware kit that Tom provides with his kits will ALWAYS be less expensive than doing it my way. He does look out for his customers by providing high qualiity parts in the hardware kits that always work and are durable. Both methods are fully functional and completely safe.

I included a pic of the RC Blimpro 40% titanium tailwheel above the stock tailwheel for comparison purposes. Pretty close to the same length, but man is it light! The main gear are in two parts, similar to many of the larger planes on the market. They are pretty well polished and appear to be quite stout.

Looks like that BME 115 might just be a happening!! My wife is going to do some very, very bad things to my anatomy over that, so I'd better go hide out in the shop right now!

Tired Old Man

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Quit complaining. I should be building not taking pictures

charrua

My Feedback: (47)

ok then I want to see a video next!!!!!

ohhhh did I mention I really like the hinging!!!!

Tired Old Man

My Feedback: (1)

Gawd you're hard to please I'm going to have to drag your backside out to California with your cameras and musical scores for the video.

BTW, the shape of the gear legs should make Texomalaser happy. Real close to what he was hoping for.

G-Pete

Looks like I’m drooling here, 105cc will pull this baby around.

Here is a question, how long is this plane?

Happy landings[sm=thumbup.gif]
G-Pete

P-51B

My Feedback: (5)

So, uh, how's it fly?

Just kidding!


I missed out on the earlier smaller sukhoi due to moving (even after he made some in the tiger scheme). I will start saving my pennies for this one. Great choice of cover scheme, looks like a good outline, gotta have one.

Tired Old Man

My Feedback: (1)

Tom is alledged to making the first flight this morning. This flight has seen a couple of delays for personal reasons already so let's all hope he gets to pull it off today. I can just picture him on the buddy box now...

P-51B

My Feedback: (5)

You know, you may want to alter your covering so we can tell it from Tom's. I was thinking you could replace the Bulls on your plane with the image below; ( )

G-Pete

Pat,

how long is this plane....thanks?!

Happy landings[sm=thumbup.gif]

texomalaser

My Feedback: (2)

Cool..Or they bent in a u shape? I was thinking when I get mine I would just bend them a little anyways...Hurry up and build that thing and give us report..No pressure right? LOL...

Tired Old Man

My Feedback: (1)

No, no pressure at all. Right now I'm waiting to see if that BME 115 will show up before the week end or in a couple of weeks. It would be super to put a 3.5 to 4 pound engine in this thing with a lot of horse power. I need to pick up the right sized Pro Links since I don't feel like building my own linkage this time. I'll have all the lengths by this evening.


The only place that Pro Links can be used is at the ailerons due to servo output shaft to control horn distances. The elevator distances are too short for any currently available Pro Links.

Aileron Pro Links; (4) 4". Two on each wing.

Measurements are with the servo output shaft positioned aft in the wings and elevators to make the linkage length as short as possible. The lengths were obtained using Rocket City type ball links and clevises. Hanger-9 and Don's Hobby Shop 4-40 ball links are the same. Funny thing is it's looking like 1" servo arms my be just the ticket. We'll have to see what Tom's using a little later.

Landing Gear, Main;

The main gear are done in two parts. One right and one left. They are shaped a bit like an exaggerated "Z", with 4 mounting screw locations on each leg. Two are on a vertical leg section that fasten into blind nuts inside the fuselage, and two are on the upper horizontal leg section that install vertically up through the tank floor. Don't use anything longer than an 8-32 x 1" on the fuselage sides since they are installed from inside the fuse pointing to the outside, and could penetrate through the exterior of the fuselage. The screws for the upper leg mount joining the tank floor don't need to be longer that an 8-32 x 3/4".

The gear installation is done by passing each leg through a slot in the side of the fuselage just under the main wing, close to the leading edge. Those slots will probably be covered over and require trimming before inserting the gear legs. The area where the gear attaches to the fuselage is located inside the cannister "tunnel", and is accessed through the top and bottom of the motor box. If you locate the nuts for the upper leg mount on top of the aluminum angle at the tank floor you will find things easier to work with. It looks tight, but there's more working room than it looks.

Make sure than you have everything secured with a thread lock compound when you're done. If you intend to use cannisters you will not be able to access the gear mount structure without completely removing the cannisters.

Non of the prototypes had the gear legs correctly drilled at the fuselage end, but no big deal. Minor offsets that needed correcting. But that's what prototypes are for, to find the bugs and flight qualities and make changes before production, right? They are a lot like an Extra, but look a whole lot better. All polished up, too. The last picture denotes the shape of the gear. The mounting method may change but I don't see the format changing at all. Looks too good.

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The fit of the cowl and the line up of the mounting holes is absolutely perfect! I've never seen that happen before.

Another astonishing item of note is the old issue we have always had with the drilled holes in the hard points. You know, the ones that were never quite the same from one location to another plus some oddball angles? That is all gone on the prototype. I've put a square up against all of them in the three wings I have done so far and I have not been able to find any angular issues at all. Even better they are the same distances out from the hinge line on all of the related surfaces. Yes, of course I took pictures for proof cuz I couldn't believe it either. My hat is off big time to the manufacturer of this one. Tom's decision in making a change in manufacturers appears to have been excellent.

The second picture is looking down the length of the aileron. That's two 8-32 screw shafts you're looking at, not one. They line up that well. No, I have not cut them to length yet. The first picture notes the deviation from vertical. There isn't any!

G Pete

I don't have the rudder installed yet but sometime today I will set it and the cowl in place and get back to you with the length info. Suffice to say it won't fit in that old Honda Civic no matter what you do, but will make a pick up bed just fine.

Length: Long point of rudder to lip of cowl: 87-1/2"--- With 4 to 5" spinner: 92-1/2" to 93-1/4". Longer with an Ultimate style spinner which would look silly.

P-51

You know what I want to say but you also know what I can't say At least not here. OTOH, I have this funny looking midievel hat with a bunch of long points with bells on the ends of the points for ya

rctom

OK, y'all, I just came back from the field, which is to say that it IS possible to exit hell. 105, about 75% humidity, not a whisper of a breeze. The things I do for you guys.

The plane flies great! It flew right off the board with no trim at all. It's slightly nose heavy with the DA-100 and no spinner, so Pat's BME 155 should not be too hard to balance.

I used 2 5985s on each aileron and one 5955 on each elevator. IT did not need that much elevator servo but I like the 5955s because of their speed and accuracy.

A single 5955 on rudder does quite tight knife-edge loops, and will knide edge all day on low rates.

We held a knife edge to see how much coupling. There is virtually no rudder>aileron coupling, and a tiny amount of rudder>elevator that caused a slight pull to the belly. When I say slight, we let the plane fly one-handed with just rudder inut during KE, it flew a circle about a half mile in diameter and the roll axis never changed. We then rolled it to the other side and flew the same half mile circle in reverse, still no roll coupling at all. I figure 1 or 2 percent up elevator will get it going perfectly straight.

Snaps are crisp and stop almost immediately after the sticks are released. No opposit control is necessary, same with a spin.

Lets talk abour downlines. Point it down and it accelerates slightly then pretty much holds that speed, the cowl is like a dive brake. Multiple downline snaps were very pretty, same with multiple upline snaps. This plane will fly the unlimited sequence with ease and with almost no trimming.

The DA-100 is way plenty of power, pulls out of a hover with authority. The canister system worked flawlessly and no heating problems were observed.

Our next outing will test the landing gear setup by doing a few dozen touch and goes on our rutted cracked field.

We're getting close guys, it's fine aircraft.

TF

Tired Old Man

My Feedback: (1)

The next question is did you take any pictures so we could all see how it presents in the air???

charrua

My Feedback: (47)

or video!!!

rctom

I took a bunch of photos, but only a couple are worth looking at. Here's one of the plane in knife edge and another as it breaks ground.

TF