Intriguing price! Not much more than the $62.00 each I paid for the 9011's. How about a report later this summer after you have some miles on them?

I really like this size/class airplane (Sig SE my current favorite) & I'd definitely spring for a set providing the gears stay tight.

Has anyone put their Ultimate in the air yet?

I am making slow progress on mine. An hour here and there is all I can squeeze into my busy schedule.

Here are some more observations:
I glued some hardwood to the back of the wing bolt blocks then drilled and tapped them for nylon bolts. The round screw hole reinforcement plates on the wing are glued on top of the covering. I broke one off while enlarging the hole with a drill. Not a big deal. Just something to be aware of.
I tried using the supplied aileron push rods. But they came up about half an inch too short.
I sure wish that they would have supplied some extra screws. The instructions talk about securing the aileron servo mounting blocks with screws. But you don't get any. Plus one of those tiny nuts that you are supposed to use with the servo horns was swallowed up by the black hole in my workshop.

Now some questions:
Is anyone using the supplied engine mount? I ditched the hardware. But I don't see anything significantly wrong with the mount itself.
For the folks using a YS FZ63. How do you plan to route the exhaust? I am still a little lost here.

LooneyTunes,

I found the screws to hold the aileron servo mount. They are tiny and in a different package from the aileron panel screws. You are right on the wanting extra screws. I have been down on my knees several times looking for dropped stuff. I am about to purchase a metric fastener kit from RTL fasteners for emergency use.

If the weather cooperates I am going to try to fly on Sunday. I still have the engine installation and pull-pull work to finish.

But don't hold your breath. There is always an interruption somewhere / somehow.

I am using a Dave Brown mount. The supplied mount looks okay.

The aileron pushrods were the correct length for me. Did you place the servo with servo arm shaft towards the trailing or leading edge of the wing?

LooneyTunes

The 91/120 size DP Ultimate was reviewed in the Dec. 2001 issue of Flying Models magazine. They installed a YS 140 in the test model. I've enclosed a look at how they routed the muffler
The parts are also available for the YS 53 which I assume will also fit the 63. You can check them out at

http://macspro.brinkster.net/four_parts.asp

I'd like to install a pitts style muffler on mine but I can't find one for the 63 so I plan to follow the Flying Models example to keep the clean look. Hope this helps.

Thanks jwatwood and Raintown for the input.

I have the servo arm output shaft facing the trailing edge. But I may have mounted the servos a little towards the front. I made some new pushrods. So, have that problem licked.

I do have a new one though. With the interplane struts installed, the cabane strut screw holes do not line up. The wing screw lugs are about 1/4" too far back. I can force the screws in. But that puts a warp in the wing. I guess I will have to play around with all the lugs and hopefully get it all to line up.

Hey Raintown. That is one cool looking exhaust setup. Thanks for the tip. Let me know how it works out.

LooneyTunes,

I have attached a picture of my carbon fiber pushrod setup on the wing.

I was wondering if the top wing was going to line up correctly also.

I did the following. Placed the screws in place on the center cabane. I then installed the interplane struts. Everthing then lined up. I had to had to monkey with the interplane fittings to make sure the wingtips were equal distance apart.

I had to look several times at the picture to make sure which way the interplane struts were positioned. The are positioned on the outside of the lugs.

I hope you get everthing straightened out. No pun intended.

Another view of carbon fiber pushrod setup.

Dang! Thats the Big Mama of pushrods!!!

Yepp, a little more drag but it is lighter and stiffer than a 4-40 rod set up.

All right. It looks like I will have to fill and drill some holes.

Here is my Ultimate with the upper wing attached using the interplane struts.

Notice my hightech wing parallel-o checker.


And here is how the cabane struts align.


Looks like I will have to fill the stud holes and drill some new ones.

jwatwood; Those are some nice pushrods. I have some Central Hobbies CF rods with titanium ends laying around. I think I will put them to use.

LooneyTunes,

Yes indeed yours is off.

How did you know I purchased those CF rods from Central Hobbies.. With the pitts muffler the plane looks like a walrus. Hmmm, did I just discover the name for this bird?

I finished hacking up the cowl to accomodate the engine. It turned out okay but it was a real pain.

I have the pull-pull setups , throttle and fuel plumbing left to finish. I don't know if I will make tommorows planned flight.

LooneyTunes,

The install is complete. Programming is complete. Engine finally runs correctly and has a half a tank through it. O-ring problems on the remote needle valve. I still think the tank is to low for adequate fuel delivery. I have a cline regulator as well as a Perry regulator arriving Wednesday.

I will re-mount the engine tomorrow. If I can get a reliable engine run I might take it up. Otherwise, I will wait for the regulators.

jwatwood,
You are doing great! I bet you can't wait to fly that Ultimate. I know I am getting impatient. My things to do list is getting shorter.

I am a dumb-a** though. When I put the wings together the first time I took out my right-angle and started checking things. For some reason the interplane struts were off. I spent two days figuring out why the wings were not square. Finaly, yesterday I took the bottom wing off re-measured everything, and of course everything lined up. Then the lightbulb finaly came on. I had overtorked one of the wing mounting bolts and the bottom wing was not square with the fuse. DOH!

Now all I have left to do is install the second aileron pushrod. Then install the fueltank and engine. That should only take me one more weekend.

IT FLYS, IT FLYS

My ultimate 40 took to the air this evening. I needed some up trim and some right aileron after takeoff and the plane leveled out. The engine was run very rich and the plane lifted off with a little over 1/4 throttle. Very little rudder was needed for it to track straight.

I just flew the pattern getting the feel of it. The plane flew steady and predictable at low and moderate speeds. I didn't try to stall it. The only thrill I took was a loop on the second flight.

It lands like a 120 size GC Ultimate that flys at our field. As the air speed bleeds off the sink rate increases. I flared the plane and was surprised how much elevator I needed as it touched down. Greased it first time.

Second landing was different. I have a landing program which engages at tad of flap with the flaperons along with a tad of down elevator. I used this on the second landing. It floated more trainer like on the descent. However, on the flare I did run out of elevator and bounced it slightly.

The light was bad and it was time to go home.

I have some niggles to work out. Right ailerons have some slop at the servo. Don't know where that came from. I need to seal the hinges and install the fuel regulator. And of course once finished it will be time to go through the trimming procedure. But can you see grin on my face?

That is great news. Congratulations!

I hope mine turns out as good. You said you used a flaperon setup. I am setting up mine with flaperons. I have a three position flap switch. What servo travel settings would you recommed to get started with?

LooneyTunes,

What radio system are you using? I am running a JR 8103.

I haven't messed with the flap settings. I have a three position toggle switch for flight modes with one position labeled landing. With this switch I dialed in about 10 clicks of down flap and some down elevator. Actually too much down and it wasn't much.

jwatwood,

I am using a Airtronics RD 6000 Super. I don't think I am going to mess around with any mixes at first. I just set my flaperons up for 50% and 75% servo travel. Since the recommended travel for high rates is only 1/4", that isn't much. But we'll see.

How tall is the model, measured from the table to the the highest point (middle of the top wing LE?)?

I have a fiberglass bed cap on my truck, and only have 19" vertical clearance.

Thanks.

Steve

Steve,

Mine stands about 14 3/4 ". My landing gear is about 1/4 " taller than stock. So I figure the model stands at 14 1/2.

So at 19 inches you have plenty of clearance.

Jim

I thought so, but wanted to make sure before I ordered one.

Thanks.

Engine settings have been finalized with the Perry pump. So far the combo is working well. I couldn't fit the Cline due to cowling restrictions.

I spent the whole day yesterday flying this bird. After deciding that I had too much up elevator trim for level flight along with a diving inverted flight I spent last night checking and adjusting the incidences. The top wing had a little over 1/2 degree of negative incidence. The engine, bottom, and top wing are now all set to zero. We will see if this helps.

The initial control settings, low rates, are conservative. I have bumped those up.

With an OS 50 SX and a 11x6 prop the plane has rocketship unlimited vertical. However, with a slimline pitts muffler it failed our club's sound limit of 100 db. It came in at 102. However, changing to a 12x6 prop fixed the sound problem but I lost the
unlimited vertical. I will try a 11x7 APC today.

Noise limit? What's that? The APC prop should get you a few less dbs.

I have been making slow progress. I now have the cowl hacked and engine mounted. But I am still struggling with the exhaust setup. I ditched the included engine mount for a Dave Brown. The web on the stock mount interferes with the throttle linkage on a four-stroker.

While hacking and fitting the cowl, I noticed that they were a bit chinsy with the resin. The part where the semi-circular airhole and the landing gear notches meet was way too flexible. The paint cracked and peeled while I was wrangling the cowl into place. Plus they did not sand between paint coats. I soaked that area from behind with some thin CA. No more flexing = no more paint cracking. I was lucky enough to find some Goldberg Deep Red spray paint at my LHS. So I repainted the peeled areas. Can't tell the difference. Except my paint job looks smoother.

The only thing left to do is the fuel tank and plumbing. Exhaust, throttle linkage. Then it is off to the field.

LooneyTunes,

I am awaiting your test report. I have determined that my bird was way too nose heavy. I have moved the battery pack back into the servo bay and hope to try the new CG tomorrow.

My cowl has some hairline cracks. Sounds like the same place as you.

I did coat/paint the inside of my cowl with some ceramic paint to keep engine heat from distorting it.

I also ordered ultracoat, followed the color match information in the manual, guess what. Wrong! The plane is not covered with deep red ultracoat. That really irates me.

jwatwood,
I know what you mean. I have a roll of deep red Ultracote sitting in my garage. I'll have to take it back to my LHS.

Any ideas what 'red' it is? I am looking at Horizon Hobby's Ultracote line. Eliminating the pearls and deep red. That only leaves flame red and true red. True red would be my guess.

True red would be my guess. I don't have a local hobby shop to go to. Place another order on the web.