Anyone flying the Aeroworks 50cc Extra 300 ARF-QB? Has there been any changes to the plane since 09? Will be ordering one next week and am looking for some feedback on how it flys. I don't fly 3D mainly a sport flyer and learning basic IMAC.

Thanks

I flew mine yesterday. If you were a all out 3D flyer I would say look elsewhere. For IMAC and sport flying I have not flown anything better. The lines are so clean and the slow and point rolls are very easy. Most of my planes I use a mix for knife edge. This Extra is so close I fly a bit of correction in and have never set up the mix. It will do some 3D but that is not it's strong suit. I have been tinkering with the CG trying to get the Harrier and walls better. I ended up moving it back to neutral. With the CG neutral it drops maybe 10' on a 500'pass when hands off inverted.
Please ask if you have any specific questions. BTW, mine is DA-60 powered and it is ballistic on the verticle. It actually hard to hover without gaining altitude. Every blip of the throttle makes it climb.

David

Thanks David, Do you think a DLE 55 with a canister would have enough power for this plane? I don't plan on doing any 3D.

It should be plenty of power. I don't think the DLE-55 is much less power than the DA-60. I broke my DA in on a 23X8 Xoar wood prop which is really a 50cc size prop. It was not lacking at all with the 23x8. After 1.5 gallons I switched to a 24x10 Xoar wood prop. Vertical is a little better with the bigger prop and it keeps the RPM down a little. Are you going to do the rear exhaust DLE od the side? Just curious.

david

Thanks, I am going with the side exhaust with a canister.

I think you will really like the plane. There is plenty of room for a can also. I have a Pitts style on mine but I really like the can tunnel and the two removable hatches that cover it. It makes it real easy to work on. As I mentioned I have been tinkering with the CG and I have had the ignition battery in several places and it would be a pain without those hatches. BTW, mine comes in at 17.5 lbs. I do not have the CF gear, tail wheel or wing/tail tubes in mine. If weight is a concern after you get yours up and running, you could save a little weight with some CF pieces that are available through AW.

David

Does it slow down and float in on landings?

Mine doesn't. I land it about 3 clicks above idle. I slowed it down on the first two landings I made with it. It fell out about 2' up. Didn't break a prop or anything but I learned my lesson. My every day flyer though is a 67" profile so maybe I am comparing it to closely to the landings of it. I also own a Goldberg Ultimate. It lands about the same way. Nose up with a few clicks of power.

Good to know! Thanks for the info. I'm sure just like any other plane i'll have to get used to it. As long as it doesn't land like a warbird..lol

Hey Drude,

I don't know how much research you've done, but don't overlook the PAU Extra 300 or the new Hanger 9 / Carden Extra. I've been looking at all of them and I'm leaning towards the PAU Extra. I'm not interested in 3D either and to me, the PAU has the most scale lines followed by the H9. Your choice of using the DLE55 will fly any of the planes I've listed well. I didn't mention the Extreme Flight Extra since it's never in stock. With that being said, their red, white and blue Extra has the best color scheme of them all IMHO

The other web site "F..... G....." has rather extensive threads on all the planes I've mentioned. There is also a couple of threads, here on RCU that discuss the bad habits of the Aeroworks Extra to snap out with elevator input. I do not know how to insert the links to the threads or I would. Good luck with whichever plane you choose

Take care,
David

Thanks David! I've been looking for info on here and FG and can't find much. I would like to read about the bad habits the plane has.

Do you have any problems with the Extra snapping out with elevator input?

The thread mention was started by me. It is in the Aeroworks Vender Support Forum on RCU. The snap is a result of a forward CG and a lot of elev input. This is the reason I have been tinkering with the CG and said it was not great at 3D. If you have your CG set right and your throws set as per the recommended, you won't have a snap issue. At first I set the Extra up like I do all of my 3D planes. I maxed out the throws on high rate and put a lot of expo in it. While flying I never use the low rate unless I hand the radio to someone else. This was the wrong approach for this airframe. I was giving it to much elev input at times. So i adjusted my flying style with this plane. Now I fly it on low rates unless i am flying it on the prop or want to do a flat spin or tight tumble.

Some of the other planes mentioned might be fine. I don't think any of them have the hardware or the customer service that Aeroworks has. Plus the Quick Build that AW brags about is just that. There is a lot of work done for you. All of this is an opinion from someone who loves their 50cc AW Extra ,has been flying for 28 years and thinks he is good at it. :-)


david

Looks like there are some post missing from the AW support forum since the change of RCU. i have reported it, once fixed I will link my snap post here.

David

Thanks David, where do you have your CG set now? After looking at the other Extras out there i'm choosing AW. To me they look better have better hardware and great build manuals. I'll be ordering the AW 300 tomorrow. It will take me a while to come up with the rest of the money to finish the build. But when I do, i'll do a build thread.
Thanks for your help!

I wish i could tell you in inches where the CG is, but I don't know. I used the ignition battery to set the initial CG right on the factory number. Since then I have moved the pack into 5 different places trying to get the right feel for the plane. This pack is a 6.0v nicad that has 5 sub "C" cells so it is fairly heavy. When i moved it 10" back from where I started for example I had to push the nose down to get it to land after I burned 1/2 the gas out of it. So right now I have the pack about 4" aft of where it started but I never put it back on a stand to see what that translates too. WHen you get yours ready email me and I will get you a number. It sounds however like the factory CG or even forward of that will fit your style of flying. Before I ordered mine I talked to the man that did the review for RCU via email. He no longer had the plane but his preference was 1/2" in front of the CG. My guess is he flew more like you do as he is now flying jets.

Looking forward to your build thread, David

Hey Drude,

FYI. Moving the CG back in the Aeroworks Extra may have solved the problem for some, but I have witnessed the same snap out problem with more than one Aeroworks Extra (including one of my own) where the CG was neutral in some instances (like mine) and a rearward CG in others.

Good luck with yours. Take care
David

Hmmm Getting kinda worried here. Don't want to spend that money only to have that bad habit.

Wish you were closer. I would let you fly mine :-)

David

Me too! lol

Hey David, wanted to let you know that I just placed an order for a yellow AW 50cc Extra 300. There are way more positive comments about the plane than negative.
Thanks for your help!

Good to hear. I think you will really enjoy the airframe. This is not the best picture but I decaled mine just like the one on AW site.

Looks good! I'm going to order their graphics also, I may add some to it not sure yet. Are those 2 runways at your field?

I am standing on a 12'x200' ramp area. In the background is the 43'x500' runway. We have three 12'x100' ramps that connect the whole thing. It's all out of petromatt. we have a nice place for the size of club we have. This is a google pic from my phone but you get the idea..

Very nice!