Hey, finishing up my Extra and it seems very nose heavy. I am running a Saito .91 engine. Anyone else have this problem...I am thinking about removing all that metal on the tail, like the big metal tail wheel assembly and the metal stab stabilizer system...any commens or help? Bill

I have the Seagull 540 edge and put a Magnum .91FS in it and it balanced out perfect!
I know it's not the 300 but i guess it's similar?

Just putting together a Seagull Extra. putting a ST .75 up front so will se how it balances out. But I'm curious, if the plane is nose heavy why would you want to be removing weight from the taile end?

I would say the answer to this is very simple. The plane is a 60 sized aircraft and generally, you see anything from a 50 to a 75 in them. A 91 is a lot of engine for it and its weight is more than that of a 60. Therefore its nose heavy. I have a Thunder Tiger 61 in mine and it balanced perfect and fly amazingly will on its first flight last week. With the TT 61 it'll do about anything, loads of power for this size of aircraft. I haven't tried to hover yet, but I have a 12x6 on it and wouldn't expect it would be able to. I have a 14x4 coming next week. The plane is light, don't try and overpower an aircraft that doesn't need it.

Thanks, I mistyped, I thought it was tail heavy but it turned out just about perfect once I added the cowling, prop and spinner. I just had to move the battery a bit. Saw one fly with an evolution 61 yesterday and it flew great...only reason I'm using the Saito 91 is I had one lying around...Bill

For the record - the TT61 (a great engine) is one of the heaviest 61's around ! ! In fact, the OS .91 FX (and its new Magnum/ASP 91 clone) is actually lighter than the TT61. As for too much power - that is why "throttle management" is important .......That said - mine needed the battery up front to balance with a Magnum 61 2-stroke (which is one of the lightest 61's). Another interesting point - the .91 4-strokes are somewhat heavier than the .61 2-strokes and they have less power than the .91 2-strokes. A nice flying plane - but be careful with too much elevator - it will snap. I also suggest supporting the tail group with a brace.

When u say battery up front, did you have to move it in front of the servo compartment? I noticed the area between the two firewalls would hold a battery...

My battery is right under the tank up front in the cowl. The receiver is right behind it.

ok, so you mean it is in the cowl compartment, not the servo compartment?...thanks, Bill

I put the receiver battery under the tank and the glow driver battery on the firewall. I used a .61 myself and don't think more is needed for sport aerobatic flying. At most a .75 2-stroke if you fly at a high altitude to compensate for the power loss. My "throttle management" comment was intended to point out that if you do select to use more power than recommended by the manufacturer then you should be very careful with it. With an OS 91 FX this plane will be flying at or beyond its structural limits and full power should only be used when going vertical. This is fine airplane but remember it is a budget type of ARF and if you want to play the overpower game then a structurally stronger version such as the Extra from Vectorflight is needed. With this one from Seagull you can fiberglass the main wing center section to beef it up a bit, and remember to support the tailgroup. I recently weighed all my .61 to .91 engines in a process of selecting one for a tail heavy Passion 3D and that is were the weight info is from. (will put a post in the engine section on this). It is important that in selecting an engine for a new plane one should definitely keep your flying skills in mind as well. An overpowered airplane can be difficult to manage safely and can break a lot more than its airframe. Happy flying ! !

There is a post on the horizonhobby.com website that has upped the engine to a 100 four stroke, just fyi...Bill

Ok, ya, that was kind of a bad description of where I put things. If you look inside the plane, and forward into the fuse you can see where the fuel tank goes through the firewall and into the cowl section. I'll define the cowl as the fiberglass part included with the kit that is not part of the fuse. Therefore, if you put the battery and receiver in the forward part of the fuse, about 5 inches in front of the servo tray, behind the hole in the firewall for the gas tank, you should have a well balanced plane. With the 91, please do as said in the previous post and glass the wing halves together. I would also recommend glassing the mount where the wing bolts go into the fuse and anywhere on the firewall you can get at. Your also going to need a much larger fuel tank for a 91 so you will probably have a balance issue on takeoff. I put a 12oz in it because I like the extra air time and what I did was to balance the plane with the tank half full. Otherwise the plane will have almost no ability to taxie when the tank is full. It will nose over. I get 15 minutes at half throttle with that tank, but you will get about 10 with a 91. A very important step you won't be able to ignore is to trash all the control horns and clevasis (sp?) and but the higher quality dubro stuff. Replace everything you can and loctite or ca all the bolts and screws. Take your time with it and make sure everything is perfect. Its a great plane, but you have to go the extra mile to make it last.

Thanks alot for the info, especially about the cg at half tank...I already changed out the fuel tank to a 12 oz while building anticipating the flight time issue...I'm half tempted after reading all of this to pull the Saito and buy an Evolution 61 for a hundred bucks and sticking it on there...someone else at the field has that combo and it flies great...Bill

ok i have one with a saito 100 and my manual is for the 40 size and is have the cg is 4cm back at wing tip and this can be it too tail heavy and with a 100 in so what should the cg be at?

battery unnder tank and receiver in the forward part of the fuse

Mash the cg would stay the same its around 3.1/2 in back i liked mine a little tail heavy i installed a OS61 and added a dubro 12oz tank and it flys fine. i added 4oz to the nose at most for balance on my gp balance machine and slowly removed some to help slow her down on landings. and as far as wasting extra money for new control horns like some people suggest just use all theres.........theres nothing wrong with the hardware. infact i like there tail wheel compared to most . rather than spend money on hard ware buy a aluminum nose cone rather than using there plastic one.i just built a [link=http://www.aero-works.net/store/detail.aspx?ID=75]aeroworks[/link] 540T with a OS46FX it was a little tail heavy added no weight and i love the way it flys light as a feather. good luck BILL


CHOPPER DUDE the 91OS weighs the same as there 61 are you balancing the plane upside down?..... as you are supossed to

Yes, old post but thanks for the concern. I have been flying it for a month now and it flies great. It ended up with no weight added after re-calculation...Bill

wow no weight . i installed a 13x4 prop to help slow it down on landings,where is your cg at now id like to try it on mine?

I am at 4 inches back at the fuselage...once I got the idle slowed down, it glides right in...Bill

I have a Seagull Extra 300. I solved the tail heavy problem by mounting the battery pack on the bottom of the engine mount box (below the firewall) and using only one servo for the elevator. My old Surpass .70 was more than enough poewer. If you haven't flown yours yet, be prepared for tip stalls at strange moments during flight. I got so tired of this airplane suddenly rolling right for no apparent reason that I have stopped flying it. Maybe it's just my particular airplane but be ready!

So Norm how did the ST .75 come out on the weight?

Im building a GP 300S and thought about buying this ARF to get up while I build.

I will be using the ST .90 which weighs the same as the .61 and .75 size.

just got my extra up today. it went great no tip stalls at strange things going on with my plane.
With the saito 100 it puch holes though the sky.

MORGY it worth look it over again to see if it is some thing else. i got radio hits when my antenna was by the push rods. my cg is about 4 in at fuselage.

I agree with 4 inches at the fuse, flies great...Bill

I am wondering about the cg on my seagull extra I tried to balance it at the wing tip 4cm back and its real tail heavy I will have to add a ton of weight to balance I am using a Magnum 91 4stroke any ideas?

i need help on finding the cg on a seagull extra 300

Read above....the correct CG on a Seagull Extra is 4" at the fuse....this makes it very tame and lands nice and slow...Bill