I HAVE ONE NOW I AM STARTING TO BUILD, I AM GOING TO PUT A TAURUS 3.2 ON. I WANT TO KNOW IS THIS A GOOD PLANE FOR 3D? PLEASE LET ME KNOW.

Hi Vernon,

One of the most qualified people that has published an opinion on this is Michael Glavin. Have you read his review? Here's the URL: http://mglavin.com/Extra330lreview.html

http://www.icon-stl.net/trout/airplanepics/dp330l.htm

I'm surprised BPRYOR doesnt have alot to say. He's right about Glavin's notes. I have my own info and pics out at www.devino.org , or it is also at the URL above.

I did the ARC version, covered it sort of Patty Wagstaff-ish and powered it with a BME 44. I only got a few flights on it after finishing it in November. It has been stored for the (Chicago) Winter.

I trashed the stock gear on the first flight. Go read about it. I bought TnT replacement gear that have been awesome. BUT, I JUST installed a set of carbon fiber gear that shaved a full six and a half ounces off the plane. We'll see how they perform.

http://www.icon-stl.net/trout/airplanepics/dp330l.htm

Hi Cheech,

>>I'm surprised BPRYOR doesnt have alot to say.

I figured that the link to my review and opinions on this plane are pretty much blasted all over the place, so I thought I'd give everyone a break. I had already given Vernon the link.

You must still be waiting for the weather to clear up. Me too. This is my first Winter in Oregon and since I'm from CA, I'm used to flying year round. It's really made me realize how spoiled I was. Now I hate everyone from California too.

Winter. Ugh! Yep. Too windy, snowy, rainy, etc... Any day that COULD be flown over the winter, was flown. I flew at least once in Dec, Jan and Feb. have yet to fly in March. But I havent seen weather good wnough to warrant hailing out the Patrick.

-mark-

You will love the Taurus, I am not as sure about the plane. Mine started life as an ARF and was powered by a Mokie 210. Plane was heavier than advertised and did not fly well in my opinion. So I put the Taurus on. Fly’s better just not good. Way to over coupled in every direction. I fly the H9 Cap 33% as well and their is simply know comparison between the two types of plans. My mix’s to deal with coupling for the H9 Cap are none existent. Quite a different story when I move back to the DP 330. Plane becomes very snappy when you try to push it around (3D).
Be careful on your approaches tips will stall, but it will slow down if you build it light. Strongly recommend looking at keeping every oz you possibly can out of the plane. With this planes clipped wings the loading is way up there. My DP ended up at 15.5lbs and CG was moved all over form 53/4 to 63/4, didn’t help
It is a great looking plane I just wish it flew as well as it looks. I have it for sale now if any one is interested. No crashes, good condition, motivated seller. I will keep the Taurus though. Really good motor.

Hi Chris,

You must be JB's friend that he talks about and this must be JB's old Extra. Right? First, welcome to RCUniverse.

JB is the only one that I know of that has been unhappy with the flight characteristics of this plane. I really believe that it is something wrong with that specific plane. Mine definitely has absolutely no tendency to tip stall, or any other bad manners. From the dozen or so other people I've talked to that have this plane, they have all had the same positive experience. I wish you had a chance to fly another example to see how another one handles.

BTW, the wing loading is actually fairly light at 15.5lbs, in the 29 oz/sq ft range.

Hi Chris,

I just purchased your DP330 via JBH.

What do you mean by the term "clipped wings"?

The tip stall tendency bothers me. Though I suppose that landing the plane a little hotter will solve the most critical stall situation issue for me, as I probably will not be doing TR's with the plane as a regular part of my flights.

I thought that the DP330 was more of a "floater" with the more generous wing area and lighter wing loading.

If you could, send me an email with the control mixes you used.


Hi Bill,

Assuming that this plane is one of the "heavy batch" first run kits,
which engine would you prefer at say 15-16lbs?

FPE 2.4, Taurus 2.6, or Taurus 3.2?

Also, I'm a big fan of using Coleman for fuel.

In conversations with Kurt at FPE and Bill at Taurus, both see no particular issue with its use with their smaller engines except that
there is a reduction in top RPM. So power will be a little less.

The compression ratios are under 8 to 1, which helps avoid detonation and run on, so I am informed.

The FPE I understand has its timing fixed @18 degrees which seems to favor the Coleman better, but maybe that engine is better suited on the smaller Sig 300SX.

Bill, your thoughts?

Thanks guys for any input.
__________
Joe B.
[email protected]

Hi Joe!

Pretty funny... you also bought Chris's H9 Edge-540 from me. :-)

Did you ever end up finding the receiver I installed in the Rambler I sold you? I imagine you did before you flew it. :-)

Hi Joe,

Yeah, I was rather amazed by amount of space in that turtle deck cavity for stuffing receivers, batteries, and such.

Darn Nice plane!

World Models are certainly high on my preferred list!

Wish I had more time to fly it.

Gosh, could I be owning a H9 Cap and DA 100 next???
___________
Joe B.

BTW, sent you an email reply to your email reply to my email to your...........

JMBOSS,Did you ever get to fly that sig extra yet?I too have got the dp extra now and cant wait to fly it.I've nothing but good things about the flight characteristics of the plane when setup properly.

Only if you want the next best thing to a FC or Carden 40% at 1/3 the cost. :-)

Hi Joe B,

clipped wings:

I think Chris was referring to the non-scale low aspect ratio of the wings on the Extra. This actually is a quite common design practice on R/C aerobatic planes. Carden is one example of a company that is well known for doing this. It actually provides better flight characteristics in our models than a scale wing would. As an example, the Carden 40% planes are actually around 42% scale, then the wings are shortened to meet the rules for various contest rules. This is typically considered a positive design feature and not a negative one.

Tip stall tendency:
If you get this plane flying and it has a tendency to tip stall then you need to find out what is causing it. This is not a normal characteristic of this plane. Mine is almost impossible to tip stall unless you are way uncoordinated at the point of stall, such as a snap entry. If you aren't uncoordinated with the controls, the nose just mushes straight ahead.

>>I thought that the DP330 was more of a "floater" with the more generous wing area and lighter wing loading.

They are. You will find it will float and will land at a crawl....assuming there isn't a specific problem with the airframe causing it to tip stall.

>>which engine would you prefer at say 15-16lbs?

FPE 2.4, Taurus 2.6, or Taurus 3.2?

The engine choice really depends on the type of flying you intend to do. If you mostly fly 3D, go with the most power within this size range....in this case for me there's no contest, I'd use the Taurus 3.2. If you fly mainly normal aerobatics, with some 3D, then any of the small light gassers would work...some better than others. The FPE will save you about 1/2 lb over the other small gassers, but from the numbers I've seen recently you will be down a significant amount of power over the Taurus 2.6....but I also think it would fly the plane very well if the weight is kept down. (We'll find out when Mike G. and KingAirJockey get their planes in the air)

I don't think you'll run into any problems using Coleman fuel with any of these motors except for the slight drop in power...but if you do plan to run this fuel, I would also chose one of the more powerful engines....and then there's the smoothness issue, and I will back Michael Glavin up that the Taurus is a very smooth motor, but as we've discussed many times before this is a very subjective opinion, though I am basing mine on owning many gas motors from 40's to 150's and of the ones I've had, the Taurus is the smoothest single by a significant margin.

I hope that helps.

Hi KingAirJockey,

Vacillating between the 1.60FX and the FPE 2.4 for power.

Did you have any right thrust with your FPE? The engine's
impression on the firewall indicates that you mounted it
straight -- 0 degrees.

Meant to email you about your setup.

BTW, Kurt @FPE has a 300SX, his is mounted with a 1 inch(?) custom shim sold by SIG.

One of the guys in the TRCC club here in Tucson has a ST 2300 mounted at 0 degrees.

Another one with the 1.60FX-- 3 degrees right thrust.

Go figure.

I suppose each kit has its own personality. Probably in the main wing or stab. Warp?
______
Joe B

Joe B,

I did have right thrust,I'm not even sure of the degrees,just kept adding till it felt right.I made a spacer block from 3/4 spruce and hollowed out the middle,Took me maybe 20 minutes of work.I wouldnt waste the money on buying one.The FPE in the sig extra is way more then enough,if you want power then thats the way to go.