They are holding a Extra Easy II at the LHS the for me. This is similar to the Extra Easy but with a Evo .46 engine instead of the MDS .40 (more reliable I am told) What modifications have you guys made to this plane ie; landing gear, wheels, firewall, strenghening fuselage etc. ? Thanks for your help. I have flown electrics and spent some time with someone flying glo, it was awesome!!


Michael

I did not do any modification to my Extra Easy and have had no problems at all. If you are learning I recommend drilling the landing gear and landing gear block to accept 1/4-20 nylon bolts. This will save you from repairing the bottom of your fuselage if your gear should rip out on a rough landing. Other than that, just make sure the firewall, gear block, etc. is securely glued. Good luck!

It's been my experience that the Xtra Easy needed a Popsicle stick or two under the trailing edge of the wing to prevent it from climbing when power is added. The wing has too much positive incidence and raising the back of the wing lowers it a bit...

The Xtra Easy II may also have this problem. They may have also fixed it s flight test it to find out for sure.

Don't overlook the fact that this is a flat-bottomed wing, as you apply power the wing will create more lift. This is a trait of flat-bottomed wings.

One thing I would suggest is to glue the tail feathers to the fuse. I have seen these fly off in flight after a loop or two. I glued mine to the fuse and haven't had any problems. I had a friend rebuild the bottom after a pretty hard landing one day, so as Pauly said, replace the standard bolts with nylon. Good Luck

Lee

I put a .61 in the nose of mine and converted it to a tail dragger. Also I re-covered the bottom of the wings 'cause I didn't care for the white. I have never figured out why manufacturers make white bottom wings and then expect you to be able see 'em when they are up in the sky.

By the way, it flys very well with a .61 powering it!

The Xtra Easy II does need the popsicle sticks. I tried one and it helped, but it still required allotof down trim on the elevator, I plan on 2 but did not have a second one at the time

I agree that the gear needs 1/4 bolts. This is a must do mod, and has saved my plane a few times. Reinforce the fuselage bottom with some ply to strengthen the landing gear area.

Triangular stock to the firewall corners for added strength. I'm doing both sides of the firewall this weekend. Fuel proof everything in the engine compartment with epoxy & alcohol, or whatever you use. I'm replacing mine now because it was fuel soaked, and it cracked.

Mine came with a clamp type, metal Hangar 9 engine mount. Replace it with a plastic mount and hex head screws. While doing this, shim up the front engine screws with a washer or two to compensate for the excessive down thrust angle built in the firewall. I can see my nose gear bending on takeoffs from the down thrust. I actually nosed mine over on takeoff when I put a two bladed prop on the Evo!!! If you don't shim the engine, use a little up elevator on the takeoff runs to ease the strain on the nose gear.

Put foam strips on the saddle mounts.

Buy the replacement thrust washer for the weighted flywheel so that you can use a 2 bladed prop. They are only a few bucks. Get an APC 11x7 prop when you are ready to mod the Xtra Easy 2 up for better performance. This turns it into a pretty fast trainer with lots of vertical power. I can fly mine out of sight vertically. Be prepared for a different handling plane as you are probably used to the 3 bladed prop slowing it down when reducing throttle. Mine lands much differently now.

Never, ever fly the Xtra Easy 2 unless you have balanced the 3 bladed props!!!!! My prop would vibrate the nylon gear bolts out. Finally, I landed once with only one engine bolt in the firewall. I took off the prop and was surprised to see how light one blade was. I sanded and sanded before having to resort to a Dremel to grind down for balance. Had to shape the prop ends, but it works well. I bought 2 replacement props and they both were extremely out of balance too.

We have seen quite a few ARF trainers at my field. I think that once mine was modded for the nylon gear bolts it was far stronger and more durable than any I've seen. The solid sheet balsa fin/horiz stab is strong. The fuselage is better built and stronger. I have put mine thru punishments that has really damaged the other ARF trainers. My Xtra Easy 2 kept on flying with little to no harm. I was rarely afraid to do anything to it as it has remained a very well built trainer.