I received mine today and the wing braces didn't come, nor did the landing gear. It does come with a gear doesn't it? I've emailed VF and hope to hear from them quickly. I've never put a plane like this together before. I've only assembled sticks. And a couple spads. I'll need some advice for sure. I finally have got everything I ordered, well except the two glow plugs from Central Hobbies but they should be on the way by now. They got my order messed up and sent me a 2 3/4 tru turn spinner and adapter without adding it to my bill. And then had the nerve to leave out my glow plugs. [:@] Anyway I called them and straightened it all out. Got my servos from ServoCity today too. This is like Christmas man. Well, I guess I'll have to wait to start assembly till I get the braces. []

Yes it comes with the gear, etc.
Contact John at VF. He'll ship you anything missing or damaged pronto. "If it's in stock."

When you get the wing braces make sure you follow the instructions and sand them down to fit perfectly.
I measured before, during and after gluing and still had a 2 degree difference in the wings.

Mark Stafford
AMA 471218

I emaile them and got an answer the next day. They said the parts were commonly overlooked as they were behind the cardboard at the end of the box. I had noticed that but thought it was the box top, folded into the box. I pulled it up and eureka![X(]. Anyway, I let them know they were shipped.

I trial fit the braces in each wing and they were VERY tight in both. I stuck some sand paper on a two foot piece of ruler and sanded the foam till they would slide in fairly easy. Once they went in each wing without a lot of drag I put the wings together. They seemed to fit good with just a little bit of pressure needed to pull the trailing edge together. As per instructions I glued it up inverted on flat building surface with 30 min epoxy and clamped it up. Reading their tip to mark the wing, I felt it was rather involved so I came up with my on way. Try it, it actually only took 5 mins to do. I took two 1/4 20 bolts and cut them 2" long. Put the threaded end in my drill motor and turned on the bench grinder. Point the bolt end at about a 45* angle to the wheel and grind it to a point. Remove the bolt and rub the end on a sharpening stone to dull the point. The point will be perfectly in the center of the bolt. Use a straight edge and set them 1/16 above the fuse sides. Gently set wing down on them, they won't evern scratch the surface if you're careful. Measure the wing and when it's square, push down on the t edge and your wing will be marked exactly right. I made my "markers" at work using battery powered equip and once home, it didn't take me more than fifteen minutes to have the wing marked drilled and the wing bolted on. I did use a small drill press to drill the 1/4" holes because I'm not very good at keeping the drill perpendicular to the surface I'm drilling.

Now to address your quote Mark. I'm not sure what you mean when you say there was a 2 degree difference in the wings. I assume you mean that once you inserted the braces, they were not square with the wing itself. I found that the braces were not wide enough to fill the slots verticly anyway so after discussing it with RVator, we felt it didn't really matter whether they were more to the top, bottom, or centered in the wings. So, I didn't worry about it either way. I figured they were there to put the wings together and it didn't matter. I just made sure they would slide in and out without excessive drag, knowing that once epox was applied they would slide even easier. I glued the heck out of one at a time pushed it in and out several times to make sure and pushed it home. Once both were in one wing I spread glue inbetween and outside of the braces sticking out and with help from RV pushed the wings together. I pulled them back and forth a few times and then spread glue on the roots laid the wing upside down on the board and clamped it up. It looks very flat and straight to me. Note: After building spads for a while, I realize that all doesn't have to "to the thousands" to fly great.

So the wing is on and the stabs in their positions. It looks like I'll have to do some sanding to get the verticle stab aft enough to put the rudder on. I'll battery up my digital camera and take some pics.

Remember: Your suggestions are sought and appreciated. Suit

Well my I just finished messing up my cowl trying to do the heated water thing. Water was about 140* and curled the edges up. Not sure how much of it gets removed but if not a couple inches I'm gonna need a new one. [&o]

Well my I just finished messing up my cowl trying to do the heated water thing. Water was about 140* and curled the edges up. Not sure how much of it gets removed but if not a couple inches I'm gonna need a new one. [&o]

Just out of curiosity what is the "hot water" thing with the cowl ?... I have both the 58 and 66 inch Extra's and have nerver found a reason to put the cowl in hot water.. Am I missing something here ?..

My instructions said to put all the plastic pieces in hot water to "stress relieve" them. I'm thinking it's supposed to make them stronger. Instructions say "very hot" water but not scalding. That's not that clear in my estamation. Seems they should give the degree the water should be. I had my turkey cooker on and was watching the thermometer and shooting for about 130-140. All went well till I dropped in the cowl and the edges curled. So, like I say, if the cowl is too long and needs some of the edge removed, then maybe I'll be ok. If not, I'll need a new one. Seems my email account is blocking their emails to me because I got a call yesterday that they received my mail but theirs keeps coming back. The phone message says they'll free ship me another one.

i did the hot water bath, but just used hot tap water....ours is set for right around 120

Thanks for the explanation..
They must have changed the instructions since I put mine together.. There was nothing like that in mine..

Ok my face is red. I read the instructions as posted on their web site and I was VERY wrong in what I did. It was supposed to be just hot enough to be uncomfortable. Anyway, I've ordered a new cowl and they were nice enough to send it free shipping. Now I have one to practice on for cutting out the engine opening.

Ain't they the best? The company is a model for model companies

Here are a few pics of my build so far.

Aren't they purty

nice Spads

Your plane will be insane with that YS on the nose.

Looks good. Keep posting.

Pete

Thanks for the encouraging words. Yesterday I glued on the bracing on the stabs like VF suggests. I trial fit the ailerons and marked the horns after installing the servo. I lined the horn up with the servo arm marked it and removed the aileron to drill it. Installed the horn and stuck the aileron back on.[X(][:@] I should have squared it off of the aileron itself and not the servo. Studying it, I don't see how it's supposed to be installed. The tapered wing is throwing me off! I'm heading for the 540 thread to see if any suggestions are there on how to mount the controls.

Also, what kind of glue is used to glue on the tail fairing? Plus I'm considering changing the way the tail wheel wire is connected to the rudder. Is their procedure strong enough? I like the way my sticks are done with the wire going up between the rudder and stab and 90* into the rudder. Just looks stronger to me

I'm back!!! Couldn't find anything in the 540 thread about how to install the aileron linkage. If any of you have some please post them for me. I can't figure out where the horn is supposed to be positioned on the aileron. I have one glued on but the horn is not right and will have to be repositioned[] Trying to drill the holes for the horn once the aileron is glued on is a pain. I like to line it all up, remove it and drill it on the press to keep the holes perpendicular to the surface. Oh well, this is my first tapered wing plane.

On mine, I mounted the servo and installed the aileron.. Then I centered the servo arm... Then I installed on end of the control rod on the servo arm, made sure the rod was parallel to the servo using a right angle of the bottom of the servo... Then I placed the control horn on the aileron against the rod.. Made sure the control horn leading edge was even with the front of the aileron and drilled
the holes... By placing the control horn against the rod it prevents any binding at that point.. Works for me, I am sure there are other ways of doing it though..

suitcase

Look on the Vector-flight home page and go to supplementary instructions. # 10 shows you how to set up the aileron linkage.

How simple is that??? My mistake was squaring the arm with the servo. It needs to be set by the aileron. Wow, how simple, if I had only studied it longer maybe I would have seen it. Well, if I'm lucky the horn will work where it is, if not I'll have to patch the holes and move on. Thanks for the help.

suitcase, why is the cowling all white??? Don't they come prepainted? Nice looking plane. I've been looking at the 300 and the 540. Can't seem to make up my mind

Was wondering about the cowling... on the Edge it is red and then I needed to apply the trim

as for applying the "cheesy"[:@] plastic piece over the tail feathers...I used canopy glue...worked fine....

Can you provide a direct link...for the life of me I can't find this......