jkhorvath

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I just took delivery of a new Aeroworks 150cc Extra 260 (serial number 04) with the new red, black, white, and checkers color scheme. I am writing this note to share some of my initial experiences.

The aircraft is shipped in three crates. Each wooden crate has an extra-heavy-duty cardboard box inside of the wooden crate. The packing done by Aeroworks on this aircraft is top-notch. So much so, that the shipper (not the brown truck variety) damaged two of the three crates; there were wooden crate parts everywhere in the back of the 48 foot semi-trailer. I was especially concerned about the crate that holds the wings because the crate was smashed in the center, right where a rib might be. I told the truck driver that I was concerned, so, I had to open the crates in front of the truck driver. The aircraft parts inside the cardboard boxes had no visible damage at all. Aeroworks did a great job of packing. So, I signed for the delivery and began to unpack.

Next, I took out the fuselage ready to look for missing glue joints and covering that needed ironed. I already own two other Aeroworks aircraft, so I am a bit spoiled here and was expecting just a small bit of work, if anything at all. But then again, you know how your typical ARF comes to you; all wrinkled with the covering needing ironed down before you get the hot air gun out. I inspected the Aeroworks 150cc Extra 260 fuselage in detail, however, I could not find a single joint that needed extra glue. As far as the covering is concerned, I also could not find a single locating where the covering needed to be ironed down. Plus, just as you would expect, the covering was still tight everywhere. So, it was fun looking for potential touch-up areas, but I could not find any flaws.

Here is an example of the detail that Aeroworks puts in it's 150cc Extra 260. The holes in the fuselage for the wing tubes, stab tubes, rudder hinges, and wiring already have the covering trimmed from them. So much so, that they do not even need to be touched up with a hobby knife or an iron.

zzw26n

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Subscribed ..........

Aryana

Looks great. Keep us posted on the build...I am seriously considering one of these Extras.

bodywerks

My Feedback: (4)

Looks great! This will be my next plane, but I think I will go with the traditional scheme. I really liked the checkered scheme on my 75cc Extra, but I really, really liked the classic scheme on my 100cc Extra.

jkhorvath

My Feedback: (1)

So I started working on the wings of this big bird after work today. Unfortunately, it looks like one of the wings was damaged in shipping. It looks like when the wooden crate for the wings was crushed it did two things to one of the wings: (1) it pressed a deep dent into the covering, and (2) some of the nails in the wooden crate poked holes into the top of the wing. The deep dent came out easy enough with a hot iron. Fortunately, it did not get a rib, otherwise the wing would have been trash. The nail holes are interesting in that the nails that are used to hold the wooden crate together were pressed into the wing causing holes in the covering. Too bad this was the top of the wing. Aeroworks, you may consider either using different fasteners (other than nails) or face the top of the wings together in the box so that the bottoms are exposed to any damage.

You can see in the pictures where the one wing's top covering was dented (stretched) and how it missed the rib. Other pictures illustrate the nail holes and the way I covered them. I took white and clear Ultracote and used a hole punch to create small Ultracote dots. I hot ironed these dots over the nail holes. The dented (stretched) covering came out without a trace, but you will always see the Ultracote dots.

Anyway, today I ironed the wing covering, attached the included clear covering strip to the leading edge of the wings, and sealed the hinge gap with 3M/Scotch clear vinyl tape. I also took thin CA and did the wing root ribs to hold the covering on and to strengthen around the stress points.

Aryana

That's a bummer, but thankfully it was an easy fix and you didn't have to send it back.

bodywerks

My Feedback: (4)

I like that you are the type to make the best of it and realize that sometimes it is easier to fix such minor things than to send it back and wait. However, most definitely check the inside structure very carefully to ensure it has not been compromised whatsoever.
It looks like I will be ordering mine in about two weeks!

Hooked-On-RC

My Feedback: (16)

It just ticks me off regarding teh liberties most of these freight compnaies take with anything that is shipped. The more you put the magic word "FRAGILE" on a crate, the more they kick it, drop it and slam it around. I have had great success with shipping crated airplanes, the secret to shipping a completed plane is to suspend it inside a crate and leave nothing close to the edges. When I ship wings I wrap them in large bubble wrap and the surround them in cheap door skin wood before wrapping them in shipping cardboard.

I have 1 aeroworks plane to this point in time and I will say they do in fact do an excellent job of crating and protecting thier ARF's. QQAC does the same thing, I have recieved other airplane ARF's that had shipping damage, but for the most part it was nothing major. I hear horror stories of crushed wings, crushed fuses, talk about a heart break when you open a box!

bodywerks

My Feedback: (4)

I think we can all agree on that!

jkhorvath

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Thanks for the suggestions folks. So, I got to thinking about the damage done to the wing and especially the covering "dent". I think that it must have taken quite a bit of weight to put a dent that deep in the covering. So, I took a closer inspection of the wing.

If you notice where the dent is, it is in the section of wing where one of the servos mount (on the bottom). So, I was able to look inside the wing at this area without removing the covering. I used a small flashlight and a "mirror on a stick". I closely inspected the inside of the wing, especially the ribs, including the sheeting. I don't think that the sheeting was hit because I am sure that the covering would have torn if you were to place that much weight on the wing, but I checked it anyway. The sheeting looked like it had not been touched, so far so good.

Now the ribs may have been cracked if a lot of weight were to be placed on the covering, so I checked the ribs. These ribs are made out of plywood and I could not find any cracks. I think that if they were made out of balsa, then they would have failed. I also checked the wing area for any "mushiness" by compressing the wing area with my hands, it seems to check out solid.

So, it looks like the damage to the wings was just superficial, but I really appreciate you guys recommending that I double check it. Thanks again!

jkhorvath

My Feedback: (1)

I worked a bit on the stabs and elevators after work yesterday. For safety's sake I ironed all the covering down, although it really didn't need it. The covering certainly does not need the heat gun. I can compare this to a Seagull Bling 3D ARF I still have in a box where each of the Bling's parts are as wrinkled as I am going to be at an older age. Now the Bling is a really nice flying aircraft, but as far as the delivered covering is concerned, you get what you pay for.

Yesterday's work on the stabs include sealing the leading edge with the included clear covering, sealing the hinge gaps with clear 3M/Scotch Plastic tape, drilling the servo mounting holes, and using thin CA on the covering edges where the stab mounts to the fuse. Really simple and straight-forward.

bodywerks

My Feedback: (4)

sounds like you are moving along nicely, keep'em coming!

jkhorvath

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bodywerks: Your signature is cool. I have an Aeroworks 100cc Extra 260 that I built where initially it came in over 30 pounds. Although it did fly, it exhibited a number of 3D flying issues. After removing unneeded stuff and a number of extra hundred dollars invested, I got the weight down to 28 pounds and now it flies completely different. At 28 pounds, it really is a lot of fun to fly. The bad 3D tendencies are gone and it practically flies itself now. For a 3D aircraft, less weight will really pay off.

bodywerks

My Feedback: (4)

You're preaching to the choir, there! The 260 in my avitar was only 25.5 pounds! My 42% will have tuned pipes and it will be outfitted with a pilot and dash for IMAC, but I will still strive for about 39 pounds. Anything under 40 will be a must, although I have seen this plane at 41-3/4 and wingloading is not a factor whatsoever. I want under 40 purely for better power to weight. Since this will be primarily for IMAC, and I am only in Intermediate, I won't cry (too hard) if I don't reach my weight goal

jkhorvath

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Started mounting the servos and the control horns on the stabs today. I know that this is out of order from what the manual says, but the stabs were sitting on my table, so I thought that I would work on them.

Servos are Hitec HS-5955. I've just gotta have digital programmable servos on my aircraft. Notice the servo wire extensions. This is wire from AirWild that I solder to the servos. I do not like plug-in extensions on critical servos. These elevator servos will plug in directly to a SmartFly Power Expander Pro. When you see the aileron servos, then you will see that I use 3 pin Deans connectors for those servo wires. I've got more confidence in the Deans connectors than I do in a servo extension connector.

http://www.airwildpilotshop.com/More...product&id=213

Also, notice the screws that I used to mount the servos and control horns. They are from MicroFasteners. The servo screws are their #2x9/16 servo screws (STW0209). The control horn screws are their #4x3/4 sheet metal screws (STS0412). I used the stock Aeroworks control horn screws on my other Aeroworks aircraft and never had any problems at all. But for this big-bird, I went with a screw just a bit bigger.

http://www.microfasteners.com/catalo.../TWSSHWHMS.cfm
http://www.microfasteners.com/catalo...cts/TWSSTS.cfm

Finally, I gathered the wires together where they exit the stab with a cable tie, then CA'ed the cable tie to the end of the stab. This is to help prevent excess wire movement, potentially causing wire chaffing.

Aryana

Very clean. Thanks for posting those links for the fastners. I didn't even know socket head sheet metal screws were available.

jkhorvath

My Feedback: (1)

Progress is slowing down; I am building a Seagull Bling 3D at the same time as I am building this aircraft. Interestingly, I think that the Bling will take me longer to build. I just spent the entire weekend ironing covering and hinging on the Bling 3D.

I did get some time to start bolting the servos into the wings and hinge the rudder. Check the pictures and you can see that I have servo extension wire soldered to the aileron servo wires. I use this instead of plugging in servo extensions. Notice that I have covered each servo wire with 1/4 inch split loom tubing to prevent cutting the wires from vibration or high-G moves. I have not finished the ends of the servo wires yet; I'll need to check the length (twice) then cut and solder deans 3 pin connectors to the ends. Remember that these need to be removable at the field for packing up the aircraft. Also, I have not started building the control rods yet since I cannot center the servos yet.

Hinging the rudder into place was simple. I used 30 minute epoxy for the hinging. For a bird this big, I am not sure I would trust anything else.

bodywerks

My Feedback: (4)

You and I think alike in a lot of ways!. I, too, solder longer leads instead of using extensions - not only is it smart, but lighter and cheaper.
I am only using one servo per elevator and two per wing. For the wing connections, I am using plugs similar to these emcotech connectors:

I am not using Hitecs, but I also don't plan on using matchboxes either. Since I have more time than money right now, I will fiddle with matching up the best servo pairs for the wings out of my 8 servos, and then tweak the linkage geometry to get it right.
I ordered my 260 on Monday. I am figuring it will be here tomorrow or next monday - can't wait!

jkhorvath

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I thought that you guys might like to see how this one turned out. This one has taken a long time for me to build because I was laid off from work and needed to find and start another job.

The first pic shows the aluminum angle bracket that I use on all my big birds. This should hold the engine onto the main fuse and wing supports.

Second pic shows graphics starting to be applied to the wings.

Third and fourth pics shows all graphics applied to wings and cowl.

Fifth pic shows tail graphics.

Final pic tries to show aircraft with all graphics, but it takes up my whole foyer so you can't see it all.

Considering the time it took me to build it and the current "no-fly-order", I still have not flown the aircraft yet.

Balance came out dead on with a DA-150 in the nose. I am running NiMH servo and ignition batteries, Smartfly power expander, Futaba R6014FS FASST receiver, Bolly 30x12 prop, and TD110K canisters from MTW. I built it with three Hitec 5955's in each wing, two in each elevator, and two for the rudder. I do not know how much the aircraft weights.

I am looking forward to getting my new wing tube. Hopefully I will maiden this bird before the year end.

zzw26n

My Feedback: (45)

damn that looks Good!