I was wondering if there's anyone out there who as seen/flown this plane. I have one on the way and from what I've read in reviews, it should be a very nice plane. I would just like some build tips/user input that might save me a lot of grief or busted balsa. I have a brand new OS61FX that I plan on mounting to it. I also don't even plan to fly it right away...I'm planning on getting a Tiger 60 arf and tossing it around a little first. Thanks in advance for any input.

Dave

It is a nice flying plane. I lost mine when my transmitter rudder stick froze in the full left position.

There is a review online of the plane (here on RCU). I would recommend you reinforce the landing gear as stated in the article. I didn't and ended up rebuilding mine. If you wanted to, you could probably use some nylon screws in the gear and get by. I used some screws that were too small and short and had them fall out on a couple of rough landings. Then I installed some heavier screws and knocked out the bottom.

I flew mine with a Magnum 120 four stroke. THe motor box seemed too long for my four stroke. It was like three inches from the firewall and I ended up cutting it down because my four stroke was like five inches long and the cowl is only seven inches long.

I really liked the pull pull tail surfaces and the foam wings. I upgraded the cabling on the pull pull setup. I didn't think the supplied setup would handle this plane.

Overall, it flew really nice. Snap rolls were really cool and the inverted flat spins locked in real nice. I am considering getting another some day, as I have all of the gear needed to set another up.

I have one being shipped to my house right now, but I have never flown an aerobatic plane and am thinking I might have gotten in over my head. I was wondering if it would be possible to set triple rates on my radio for very low, low, and high and still be able to control it enough that I don't make it an expensive paper weight off the bat. I have only flown my trainer, which I converted to a taildragger, and a low-wing trainer which became toothpicks after a faulty horizontal stab failed in mid-air on the sixth flight.

Dave

I don't know your skill level of flying or how much you flew the trainer to give you advice as to whether you can handle this plane. What you will notice different about this plane from you trainer is that things are going to happen a lot faster. It will roll about one time each second. The manual with this plane is not very good either. I have been building planes for about four years, so I had no trouble putting this model together. I don't think there are even suggested throws in the manual. Based on my past experiences I was able to use the TLAR THat looks about right and had very good luck with my throws.

For an aerobatic plane, this one lands very nice. Typically people that are going from a trainer to a low wing type, can be hard on landing gear, and that is probably the only weakness this plane has. The gear is built very light and will not take much of a hard landing at all.

What motor are you planning to use for this plane?

Have you considered a plane that is recommended as a first low wing? Some suggestions are: FOur Star from Sig, Goldberg Tiger, and Great Planes Super Sportster. I personally used the Super Sportster. If you can handle any of these planes, you would be better equipped to handle the extra.

I just bought another one of these. I am planning on removing the bottom from the start and rebuilding the landing gear and making a channel for my muffler to exhaust without a pitts. I am gonna try a ASP 108 on this one. I'll post some build pics here as I go. I think its a very good flying plane and am going to make a few mods that I would have liked on my first one.

I have my new plane and have began the build. So far, I have the cockpit detailed, stabs and control surfaces glued on, and landing gear on. I bought a Saito 100 for this one and will see how this plane flies with the lighter motor. I really liked it with the 120 four stroke, and think it will even be better with the 100 four stroke. I will try to post up some pictures tomorrow.

Well, I just finished the build on mine. I have a O.S. .60 two stroke in it that I still have to tune in, but it is otherwise complete. I built up a cockpit and put in a pilot, but neither is very detailed I added some fiberglass to the inside of the fuselage where the landing gear are mounted and to the wing joint. I also installed a Great Planes Easy Fueler mounted on an L-bracket to the firewall and a fuel dot t'd into the vent line that is mounted on the side of the fuse so I don't have to disconnect the fuel lines if I need to remove the cowl. I hope to have one of the better pilots at my flying field maiden it this coming weekend.

Looking good. I have made a little progress on mine today. Here are some pictures of my cockpit. I added a pilot and dashboard that I have as a jpeg that I printed to size. I also cut up an old skirt that my wife had and used as fabric in my cockpit.

I also made some blocks on the bottom of the wing to hold the wing hold down bolts in place.

For my motor, I am going with a new Saito 1.00. I had a Magnum 1.20 Four Stroke on my previous extra and want to try the lighter Saito on this one. The mount is a Sig. Its the biggest one they make and allowed me to set my engine back almost all of the way to the firewall so my cowl would fit on. The plane has right thrust built in, so I offset my motor to keep my spinner centered on the cowl. I am going with a micro servo on the bottom of the motor box.

Here are some motor pics

Looking good! I've had a heck of a time getting this plane to balance right. Even with the fuel tank, receiver, and battery moved as far forward as I can get, I still had to add three sticks of lead weight (9 oz. total, I think) and I might need to add some more....any suggestions?

Double check your cg measurement. Something doesn't sound right. My last one balanced pretty descent with a 120 four stroke on it. I actually had the battery behind the wing. The manual calls for 4" cg right where the wing meets the fuselage.

I was going by the review posted [link=http://www.rcuniverse.com/magazine/article_display.cfm?article_id=561#video]HERE[/link] at RCU. The author of that full review mentioned that the plane is more stable when the CG is at 3.5" instead of 4". My plane is probably balanced somewhere between those two measurements.

Well, it flew beautifully! The only problem I had was the stupid Great Planes Fueler Valve caused the engine to die at idle on occassion, so i routed my fuel lines around it. I guess I'll go to a three line system after all. The plane was balanced well at 3 3/4" behind the leading edge. I have to say that the wings are damned strong on these things, too. The guy who was maidening it for me had to do a deadstick at a fairly low altitude and managed to bring it in safely, but he hit a rubber traffic cone with the left wing. The plane spun around and had a little crinkle in the leading edge covering, but the wood underneath still felt sturdy and there was no other damage to the plane. Once I get the three line system set up, I think she'll be good to go and should be a great plane to fly. Even with a OS .60 FP and a 12x6 prop it seemed to have good power, but not unlimited vertical.

Dave

The wing is tough. They are foam core.

I always use the three line system. The three line system saves weight and I never liked the fueler valve either.

I am going to finish up my plane this week and get some flight time on it.

I did some more work on my plane today. I now have all of the servos in. I upgraded the pull pull cables. I used the dubro system in my previous plane and this one.

I also sheeted the top of the landing gear formers. I also laid some 6 oz cloth over them with epoxy and then filled this area with expanding foam. That should add some strength to the landing gear. I am also going to use some bolts that will break away on a rough landing.

Hopefully tomorrow I can fly it. I just need to mount my tank and receiver/ pack and set the cg.

Sounds good...hope your first day goes better than mine.

It did go well. THe only problem I had was loosing my landing gear (main) on the last flight. I put too short of screws in it and they loosened then fell out. It still flew pretty good without the gear. My cg was set at 4 3/8" for the first flights, and the saito 100 is a very nice match for this plane. It will hover the plane just under half throttle. I think this plane is the best bargain out there. At $125, I really like it.

Foaming the landing gear area was a good choice. When I came in without my main landing gear, I killed my motor to save my prop and this plane just kept floating in. It eventually caught some wind that pushed it down pretty hard and you could tell the bottom gear area was tough. There was no damage, and it all is in good shape.

My saito ran quite well. I only had one deadstick and that was at about 800 feet. I just finished climbing up to start a flat spin. It had a very nice glide and I landed it very good. I then leaned out the low needle and it is running better. A couple of more flights and I should have the saito dialed in and will mount my cowl and spinner.

I'll see if I can get some more pictures up in a day or two.

Excellent! Sounds like it got a little hairy but I'm glad it turned out well. Looking forward to seeing some pics.