Weights and pics tomorrow.... motor still coming in a week, but everything else here and getting ready.

Here's a video for anyone one the fence about this plane. The plane in the video is electric powered and it is very impressive, I believe that with a DA 50 it would be approx. the same weight, I'm not positive though. http://www.e-flightline.com/movies/A...%205-25-06.wmv

I'm ordering mine tomrrow, Chief $529.00 + $ 50 shipping to the West coast

It is sad how Aviation Models and their managers have treated their customers. You can buy this plane now all day for $425... just days after a person paid $625 retail. I know things go on sale... that just happens and that is part of being a consumer. A sale is one thing, but to just obliterate retail in a fire sale is poor business... I paid for mine a long time ago, so the money/shock value has worn down. I feel bad for the Joe that bought his and 2 days later AM knocked off $225+.... Its a great plane though...

Well, I'm one of those "Joe"s that got caught in the Pre-Fire-Sale price at Chief.... and I ain't happy about it.... I paid full pop, plus shipping.... the NEXT DAY it was on the website for $529... so I called, talked to Dana at Chief. He told me what was happening, and to check back. I did a few days later - the website was $629 plus shipping THAT day - then a couple days later it was at the Fire Sale.

Although I feel a victim of poor timing, I have to honestly say I believe the situation was so volatile that I don't hold Chief accountable for their problems. Maybe I should - but - sometimes "stuff" happens, and that's all there is to it, IMO.

The quality of the components and the build seem good enough to warrant the price I paid, and the "going rate" for these 30% (if they are GOOD airplanes) seems about right, so I just had to get over it and move on.

Now, my delay in getting this further along is due to awaiting Hitec 5955's all round.....but I think that will be a wise wait, also.

I have the red LifeLike CajunR/C pilot, and ordered the 3D cockpit from Troy, so hopefully this one will LOOK as good as what I paid for it, too...

Yeah.. I hear you. I paid retail more or less because I felt it was worth it. No doubt. I just feel bad for the guys like yourself. I maybe interested in one of their 100cc jobs though at fire sale!!!

Haven't done pics yet, because I yanked out all the servos, replacing them with Hitec 5955TG's, which are on their way. Between those servos, and H9 Titanium links, I think those insanely-oversized control surfaces will be "okay".

Also finally received shipment info on the Brillelli 60 w/ Pitts muffler that has shipped, so I'll be proceeding with this build. Hard to stay motivated when the stuff to make it happen ain't on the bench.

Been awhile, but I've been BUSY
She's DONE, except for canopy; waiting on instrument panel. Have to do final placement of batts for CG, but it is finished.
Brillelli 60 in the nose, with Scott's custom wrap-around Pitts style. Has a GREAT tone - no bark, but good, throaty "Brillelli Sound".....turning the Xoar 23 x 8 right on up there. Didn't tach it yet, first run, but it's a good un.

Put in the Hitec 5955TG's all around, and have to tell you those are terrific servos. Used some titanium 4-40 links from Tower (actually from an Associated car something-or-other, but they are 4-40, and seem good to go) for the elevators. Standard short 4-40's on ailerons.

The fit on everything is just outstanding. Cowl aligns perfectly, and following the calculations for the firewall locating, have just over 1 mm spinner gap. Love it.

Here's a couple pics - more later... Don't have weights yet, either, but I will.

Great, starting my build with a DA 50 on a canister exhaust. Nice pics, thanks.

Well, I have her ready to go..... rather than putting everything here, I'm posting it all on my website....
http://www.rcaerobats.net/AM_EXTRA/Extra260_Main.htm is the overall stuff.... and that will be where I do updates/flight reports, etc.

Here are all the pics.... http://www.rcaerobats.net/AM_EXTRA/Extra_Photos.htm each is a thumbnail, will open full size. Any questions about any of these, please post here, or PM/email....

Check the weights sheet, and the Brillelli engine links....

Just added outside pics of the assembled bird.... I know I'm biased, but I think it looks REALLY super!

Very nice Aerobob! Plane looks great. I started building one last weekend. I hope to be complete and RTF by next weekend. I had a couple of questions. Do you know the size of the Pro Links used on the elevator? Did you have to mount the receiver or batteries in the fuse for balance?

As pictured, the elevators prolinks are 2". That ensures about 3/8" thread (or close to it) in each end, both clevis and ball link. They are from Tower, Associated Car parts, blue anodized. Look pretty good, and work.

Batteries are mounted to the front of the half-bulkhead just aft of the sloping tunnel housing. Don't know if that is the stated 6.5" aft of l.e. at fuse needed, but will check that tomorrow.

One word - the hinge slots on the inboard dual-hinge slots on the ailerons were pretty large oversize! I used Gorilla glue, really cleaning frequently while curing, but after could see that the glue had expanded appropriately to really make them solid. ALL of the other hinge slots were just fine.

I have NO beefs - ANYPLACE AT ALL - with this arf. VERY very nice quality.

Did you use their hinges or no? Nice pics Bob, Thanks. Keith

Yep.... their hinges are FINE. Thick, good sized pins, swaged in. Rough surface with holes for glue 'rivets'.... I like 'em, wish more used 'em. About a hundred times more hinge "contact" area than hinge points....Very solid, with the Hitec 5955's on all the surfaces. Man, those servos really are SOLID, which makes good hinges even better!

What other hardware did you end up using? I am building mine this week!

I used EVERYTHING out of the kit, EXCEPT the control stuff. I used the Dubro HD #866, (I think) with the 1/8" alum pin for the nylon fork clevis. They come with good 8-32 bolts to mount in hard points already installed. Then the Associated ProLinks for elevators, and just a short 4-40 all thread (stainless) for the ailerons. Rudder tiller arm is the Dubro HD setup, too, it has angled cup washers to get things right. Dubro 4-40 ball links on all servo ends, Airwild MLP servo arms, 1.25" for ailerons, 1.5" for elevators.

The tank is stock, landing gear and hatch hardware stock, cowl mounting stuff - it's all good quality stuff, SAE threads.

I used the Sullivan HD tailwheel because I like the coiled spring on the wire.... lets me drop the tail without breaking stuff... have that on my GP Ultimate, and really like how it has held up.

(The supplied ball links and clevises and control arm screws MAY be just dandy - I just have a bias there toward the Dubro stuff)

Thanks, I agree about the Dubro stuff!

Aerobob

It's a great looking plane but my concern has always been the weight vs the wing area on this ARF. I think that it will fly very well at 17.4 pounds but I can only imagine how it would fly if it were couple pounds lighter. I should be receiving mine next week and I am looking forward to the flight reports. It would be great if you could give us a comparision with the Yak concerning the flight characteristics of both.

Yes, I know what you mean. The Yak I have (BME) is almost exactly the same weight. In fact, that's one of the reasons I was really happy to see the Brillelli 60 come along, as it is so close in weight to nearly ALL of the FIFTY cc setups, yet has that 10cc "bonus".

The Yak does VERY well, and I'm expecting this Extra to match it, particularly since wing area is so close between the two. The Extra is definitely cleaner, thinner wing and stab airfoils, and less frontal drag, so I'm thinking it will be easier to transition between flight regimes.

Hopefully - it will do well. If it doesn't, well, not much I can do.

I have flown their Yak at 18.5 lbs with smoke. It was basically the same wing area and design. These aviation models can take a lot of weight and still fly nicely.

The 260 has 1290 sq in of wing area and I believe that the Yaks is closer to 1400 sq in. The 260 just might be the best airframe ever designed and I know you will love the way it maneuvers and tracks through the sky , but , at that weight the slow/stall speed is going to suffer though it may not really be an issue with this plane.

Good luck

I was curious about the area, too, so I laid the Extra panel on top of my BME Yak panel. Allowing for the "inset" area of the Yak that goes inside the fuse sides, the Extra is actually larger in LENGTH. The taper, sweep, and root/tip dimensions between the two are very close, considering that "pocket area" of the Yak. About 1 1/2" of the root chord area, so that's almost 150 sq in larger! I was surprised, too, because they did not look that big when I was messing with them.

The good part of that is that I can get away with ONE set of wing bags

I agree that the 260 airframe is dang good.... moments, decalage, incidences, distributions of area all appear to be the "looks about Right" kind of model. Can't wait to find out!

It's obvious that the manufactors are using the same people to calulate the wing area that they use to calculate the weight of their planes. In some cases too much importance is place on the numbers by themselves, but it would be nice to get accurate information from the people that make them.

YOU GOT THAT right!!!!!!!!

The BME site reads "1429" for the Yak wing area; who knows??
Then, of course, there's always the age-old question of "do you include the area of the FUSE between the wings?" (I have *never* been able to get a real definitive answer on THAT one!)

So .... like you said .... we're left to try to figure it out by trial and error.... of course then that limits the usefulness of subjective comparison.

Still fun to see which is "better", since I'll do both side by side, more or less, with the identical powerplants.

I would say we really need to consider ALL the fuse area as well as the horizontal tail. All those area's do give us lift. Compare a profile plane to a full fuse plane and there is a big difference in horizontal surface of the fuse. Mabey thats why the profiles need so much more wing? I realize that a full fuse weighs a lot more than a profile fuse but that full fuse does give us lift also. Just a thought.

Marc 540[8D]

I plan on going all carbon fiber on the stab and wing tubes. I am shooting for 17 lbs all up...