h82crash

Hey, who's flying their's? I want to know if it will at least knife edge spin and torque roll. Maybe even waterfall. Oh,.. knife edge flight, also. I've loved this plane as long as I can remember.

RCJones

Wore out,

How much fora ride in the Eagle? I'll drive to Louisville right now!

Texas 3D

My Feedback: (16)

how is your building progress guys ? Can anybody tell me what size standoffs I should order for this bird and the DA 50 ? Want to get those ordered from aerografixs before the motor gets in. Still have to wait 2 weeks before it gets here, and don't want to wait more for the standoffs to come in.

I joined the wings on mine and installed the ailerons as well as the servos control horns and pushrods (cf rods from central hobbies with 4-40 ball link and clevis). Like those better then the supplied rods. No surprises with the wings so far. Everything lined up and matched fine.

Any tips hints or improvements necessary so far?

Flyfalcons

Does the 50 come with stand off mounts? The DA website leads me to believe so. Either way the distance between firewall and spinner backplate needs to be 6.5", so if the DA comes with standoffs then you won't need any.

I bought some Robart medium hinge points to replace the CA hinges.

Hoss

My Feedback: (4)

The DA is 6.704 with stock standoffs

http://www.desertaircraft.com/da50.html

serge1

My Feedback: (1)

I joined the bottom wing tonight. The fit was perfect!!! Very encouraging!

Serge

Texas 3D

My Feedback: (16)

yeah, I agree. Both of the wings joined perfectly on my Eagle too. When I glued the bottom wing together I layed it flat on the surface with some weight on the left part and pushed a box under the right wing half until achieving the desired angle as described in the manual. If you just let it dry like it is, the angle will be less then recommended. Mine is exactly 5.25" from surface to middle of wingtip. Perfect

I used the supplied CA hinges on my ailerons. Look plenty strong enough for the ailerons. Might use them all over. Will see. What is anybody else doing here ?

Dang, I need my motor so I can check the standoff issue [&o]. Looks like the stock ones might not work.

pettit

My Feedback: (23)

To Ryan: When retrofitting the Robart hinge points in a wing or control surface, better check if the wood is "deep" enough to hold the entire point in place. If not, you may want to open up the wings to add back-up blocks so the entire point is supported. That could get ugly though...

Another trick is to try Elmers ProBond Polyurethane rather than epoxy on the hinge points. It's a little tricky since it foams as it cures, but it's rock solid. Do some experiments first and you'll see what I mean. Same as Gorilla Glue, but 1/2 the price.

3DFlight

My wing also fit well. While I think the CA hinges are probably ok, I am using regular GP hinges with a metal hinge pin. One of the posts before this mentioned their cabane struts did not line up and they had to drill the front holes. My kit also had the same issue. So far everything looks good.

3DFlight

serge1

My Feedback: (1)

On mine I am using Dubro Heavy Duty Hinge & Cotter Pin.

Serge

Flyfalcons

Dick, I am using the medium Robarts, which allow a better grip when there is less wood to grip onto. I use CA on my Robart hinges and so far have had success. I always yank on my controls pretty hard before flying the plane and this method seems pretty solid. Fortunately the ailerons are hard balsa so there is plenty of wood for the hinges to grab. I will be careful when installing the hinges though.

Texas 3D

My Feedback: (16)

hmm....now you guys are worrying me. Why is nobody using the CA hinges ? They look plenty strong to me. I pulled hard on them, and they do not seem to want to come loose.

deputydog

There is no problems using the supplied hinges. Its all to preference. I use them all the time and have not had a single failure. You just need to follow the directions(of which GP's are great!) Now I do cheat and purchase Sonic-Tronics hinges.
On larger aircraft(Aeroworks 31% Edge) I usually put an extra hinge between the ones already installed. So now I have 7 on each aileron. Plus if you seal the hinge with covering then its even stronger.

Flyfalcons

I had CA hinges fail on my Dave Patrick Extra rudder. So now on all Giant Scale planes and planes that have high throws I use pivoting hinges.

I've been spending some time rigging the wings - what a pain. Because the cabane struts are incorrectly aligned, the top wing ended up severely misaligned. My solution so far is to mount the top wing to the cabane struts, and remove the bolts connecting the cabane struts to the fuselage. Next, mount the wing struts to bottom wing, and align the struts to the top wing. After that, position the top wing center section so the top wing is centered and aligned, then redrill the fuselage holes for the cabane struts. It looks like using the flying wires might make it easier to align the top wing.

wore-out-pilot

My Feedback: (73)

Well I brought one and should be here tomorrow. My trailer is going to be full of eagles. My old one is getting jealous already. You got to love those bibes.

3DFlight

Hinges;

I tend to make lots of stick movements during every flight. I have had many CA hinges break in half. Never had a control surface failure because of that though. I always seal the hinge gaps on every surface. Maybe they broke because of age or too much CA? I have since gone to drawing a line across CA hinges with a crayon or grease pencil before installing. Have not had any of these break as the CA does not wick into the line, thus leaving and non-hardened hinge line. I dug through the tool box and found enough of the DuBro 1/4 scale hinges with removeable cotter keys, will use these now as I have on my other 8 large size airplanes I now have flying.

3DFlight

wore-out-pilot

My Feedback: (73)

Well Serge I received my Christen Eagle kit about 30 minutes ago. Your description of it is right on. Up close it looks great. The tail feathers the outside red should be blue and I might change mind. The cowl looks great but should stick out from the fuselage some on each side. They did what they did for the cost I think. But for the money it is a great buy. I hope it flys ,and should, as good as my Pilot Eagle II that I have been flying for eight years. Let us hear from you when you put in that first flight. Also in the kit they are putting in new c3 brackets to take care of the ones that are not drilled in the correct location if you know what I mean.


Happy Flying

mrsail76

My Feedback: (8)

I've got two of these little gems. One for me and one im building for a friend. Got his 3W50 in last night, looks like it shouldn't be too much of a problem. Wow I love this airplane. Great Planes should be proud, this is one of the best built arfs i've seen and the manual is the most complete I've read. Now lets just hope it flys as well as they did everything else, their video clip on their website left a little to be desired.

Wow...the radio flew further than the airplane.

Texas 3D

My Feedback: (16)

yep, my eagle had those too in there together with a update bulletin. Now if only that DA 50 would make it here soon.

3DFlight : good idea about tha crayon on those CA hinges. Will definitely give it a try.

Flyfalcons

Also, my wing brackets that connect the struts to the top wing were bent at too sharp of an angle. Be sure to check that when you are building. I'm now going to have to pull them all off and rebend them so I can install the wing struts. I had both wings on yesterday - this plane really gives the impression of being larger than it is! Can't wait to get the engine mounted.

Cubguy

Great Planes Eagle update for all you guys and gals thinking of getting one of these airplanes. I just received my replacement kit from GP. The first one had shipping damage and manufacturing problems. This second kit leads me to believe that the folks that said wait till GP gets the bugs worked out may have been right.

The new kit comes with updated cabane mounting brackets so the mounting holes don’t need to be redrilled. The mounting brackets (cabane strut, flying wires and tail wires) are not plated. If you don’t paint these they will rust.

I have seen 5 kits now and there seems to be a considerable difference from kit to kit. Don’t get me wrong I like GP stuff. I think they may have rushed this airplane through to fast. It may be a good idea to wait awhile till the bugs get worked out.

Texas 3D

My Feedback: (16)

so, anybody flying theirs yet ? What's your progress guys ?

I know this will sound stupid [&o], but could somebody please tell me exactly what lenght standoffs I have to order for my Eagle and DA 50 ? Don't have the motor yet (they are telling me it will be still two weeks before shipping []) and really would like to order the standoffs. This is the first time I'll be using standoffs, so I am not sure how to calculate and do not want to screw things up .
Thanks

Texas 3D

My Feedback: (16)

well, got lucky and found a DA 50 at minnesotarc. Last one
Well, I guess construction of the Eagle can be finished soon. One thing I have noticed on my GP Pitts is that the flying wires are pretty weak and snap easily. Might have to switch the wires out to 4-40 Dubro ones on the Eagle to avoid this problem.

Ulf

Texas 3D

My Feedback: (16)

whats the best method to mount the standoffs to the firewall/box ? How do you insert the screws into the standoffs ? Through the fuse ? Any other tips ideas or perhaps pictures ?

Thanks

Hoss

My Feedback: (4)

Texas 3D

Do you know what length standoffs to use for the DA. I had to send mine 50 back to DA so haven't measured anything yet. I know there were some post on the GP Pitts thread and it talked about cutting some slots into the bottom of the motor box to get the bolts in that way.