"Airframe Integrity Test" I like that!

I must be some kind of lead inspector in THAT department

It's a dirty job, but somebody has got to shoulder the responsibility!

David Cutler,

In your post #72 you describe the Sig wheel pant brackets but then go on to say that there is still some rotation. Are you referring to the original install method, or even with the wheel pant brackets? Also, found some of the brackets at my LHS today, but didn't know what size to get. Which one did you use?

Thanks

Hi John,

I use the 5/32 size SIG wheel pants brackets. They are black plastic ovals with the 5/32 I/D brass insert and two little holes for screws on the outside flanges. I glue and screw them in place on the inside of each side of the pants, through a piece of ply I have glued in place.

The brass insert has small threaded hole (a bit like a collar for holding wheels on, which, I suppose, is what it is!) so a small bolt can grip the shaft. Since I'm using one each side, I have two bolts to stop the whole assembly turning, and yet, when it's a really hard landing, the pants can turn on the shaft, thus not breaking the pants.

I quite like the idea of the pants having some movement in them, but not enough to turn when not wanted.

Incidentally, if you are having problems with the supplied pants try one of these:-

http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...=++&search3=Go

-David C.

p.s. I also use these Dubro axles:-

http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...?&I=LXD823&P=7

I could not stand it any more!!!!!!!

Ordered the 66" Edge today!

Oh, the anticipation!!!!!!

Thanks everybody for answering all of my questions about this plane and the company. It made the decision a very informed one. Also, thanks to VF for being so responsive and customer oriented.

Will keep all posted on when I get mine and will probably have a ton more questions.

Cheers,
John

You will love it!

I just bolted my new ASP .91 to my Extra this morning. I am going to break it in tonight and fly it this weekend...finally!

Ive got the 300s 66". THeres not much instruction on the cowl decals (why cant they do this for me like others's do) Was it hard to do? Any suggerstions. Got a 91 FX in front.

The cowl decals are deceptively easy. First you must check the length of the red "top" decal against your cowl. it should be long enough to go from the front of the cowl top to the back edge of the cowl. If your cowl is too long you may need to trim 1/4" or so off the back.

Install the cowl on the plane so that you can line up the stripes that you are installing with the ones on the fuse.

The fist pieces to go on are the red "side" pieces. Spray some water on the cowl and place the red side so that it matches up with the red on the side of the fuse, and the top of the decal extends all the way forward in a straight line. When you do the second side, make sure it ends up in the same spot as the first as you will joint these red stripes with a third piece later. Once you have the decal located where you want it, use a paper towel and push any water out from under it.

Install the black "side" decals in the same fashion.

Install the top red decal, it's front edge should be close to the front edges of the red side decals, and the top should overlap the sides by a bit.

The front red piece can be a bit tricky, but if you make sure you have water on the cowl, you can re-positiion it a couple of times with no problem. Use a heat gun to form the decal around the corners of the cowl. It will smooth out quite nicely. Make sure you have the decal where you want it though because heat makes the adhesive much more aggressive.

There are red and black pieces that join the red and black stripes that come to the front of the cowl from either side, these are applied next. If you dod not get the sides on correctly in the first part of the process, these front pieces will be crooked (like mine!). Again use the heat gun to smooth down any spots where the covering puckers around corners.

Finally apply the checkerboard decals. to do this, remove any of the decal that you don't want to end up on the plane. You should be left with the backing paper and the checkerboard squared only. Take some masking tape and lay it over the decal, rub the masking tape down so that the decal sticks to it well. Peel the masking tape away from the backing paper. you should now have the checkerboard on the tape with the sticky side exposed. Center the decal over the cowl and lay it down. Rub down each square with your finger then peel the masking tape away and there you have it!.

The little "Lycoming" and "Champion" decals stick down the same way.

Once you get the hang of the covering material it works really well.

If you want to dress up the bottom of your plane, go to a sign shop and get some vinyl designed for use on automobiles. You can cut stripes out of it yourself, and it has the same "peel-and-stick" type installation as the covering supplied by Vector Flight,.

Scale Dreamer

I ordered mine a month ago Friday and they said it it should ship this week. The good news is you get plenty of time to anticipate ! :-)

I was notified that my Edge shipped two days ago.

Anybody out there getting one of these soon too?

I'm looking forward to this one!

John

I bolted on my new Saito 91 on my 58" Extra and all I can say is WOW!! This thing is incredible. Fly awesome! I have to dial in more throw now. I got used to it and have a few things to work out but the plane has come alive now. Gonna move the CG farther back and burn holes in the sky now [8D]

What can I say that hasn't been said, except for "Try it, you'll like it"
http://strato.net/~cooter/

First, let me tell that I'm impressed with the quality of this arf and the customer service support.
I found out that the guy replying the e-mails is actually one of those characters of Man In Black, with 10 hands working simultaneously on 5 computers. That's why I got answers to my questions within the hour. I overpaid the freight for some spare parts, I got a refund check 4 days after placing the order, without even requesting it!
I got an extra 66!QUOT!, and now it's my favorite airplane. The only change I made, I glued the pan directly to the wings. Easy and clean.
My experience:
I reduced the throws on the elevator from the original 100% on my futaba, to 50% and I need to reduce a tad more.
Following the instruction of a very qualified person, I put 3 washers for right trust, and one washer for up (yes, up) trust. The airplane now goes straight like an arrow.
For some reason, I don't need up elevator on the take off run. I gently increase throttle and touch the elevator only when I reach VR. I come a little fast on landing, but MAN, landings with this birds are not difficult at all.
The only thing I need to figure out, is the tendency to tip stall to the right when I make a tight turn. The same tendency to the left, is less evident.
Anyone can share the same experience?
This is my experience and may differ from other modelers. Mileage may vary.

How did you handle the belly-pan where it wraps arounf the fuse at its forward and rearward ends? What did you use to glue it? Did you ust drill holes in the belly-pan for the wing bolts? Thanks!

October 1st . .

Take as look at the Vector Flight website everybody!

http://www.vectorflight.com/default.asp

. . there's a sale again!

(woo hoo!)

-David C.

Gyanni,

Just got my 66" Extra also and am trying to find the time to put it together. Was wondering what engine you are using. My choices are a Saito 100 or OS 1.08. I do have a OS91FX but am thinking of selling it. I'm kicking around the best choice.

I also found their customer support to be the best I have encountered in my modeling experience. Also, seems like this is one of the few ARF'S that nobody has anything really negative to say. So far no parts falling off or wing failures. Hope the trend continues :-)

They are very good, but not perfect by any means...the holes in the tail surfaces on my plane were burned for a 8/32 screw to be used as a control horn, but the screws shipped were much smaller, so the fit was extremley sloppy, had to fill the holes with epoxy/microballoons and re-drill them; when I had a hard, but not catastrophic landing after a dead-stick, the CA glue joints at the LG plate and firewall AND wing-saddle former both separated cleanly at the joint. We all know that balsa will not break at a CA joint if it is done correctly. The forward turtle deck has sags between the ribs where the sheeting was glued in place while it was still damp (they moisten it for bending). Thier web site led me to beleive that the firewall and LG plate would be made of birch-ply when in fact they are made of poplar lite-ply.

All of these issues were dealt with courteously by VF. I did repair my plane after the LG broke out. VF has indicated that they are sending me another plane when they get caught up on thier back-log. When I repaired the LG plate, I added my own layer of birch ply and fibre-glassed the joints to the firewall and former. I chucked the blind-nuts and hold my landing gear on with 3 nylon wing bolts that are threaded into the LG plate directly. Holding up well so far!

Sorry to hear about the firewall.
From what I remember, you should pin the firewall with wood toothpicks so that it is stronger.

thanks Miles! It was repaired and has flown since. Got a nice Saito 91 up front and the power is incredible.


Only thing I cant figure out is when in knige edge it wants to drift heavily towards the gear and needs lots of correction...any ideas?

Sorry David,
I could read your post only today. I'm going to post some pics of the belly pan. I glued it with ca, after lightly sanding the covering on the wings. So-far I have several flights on it and it's holding pretty well. Yes, I drilled a couple of holes to access the screws.

That's true. I solved the problem using 2 larger nylon washers, one on the the top and one on the bottom of the elevator and rudder. It's holding pretty good.
I'll post some pics.

How does this plane compare to the Seagull Extra 300s ARF that's now available from Horizon Hobby? They look about the same, and now about the same price. Anybody seen/flown them both?

Just an update I flew it again today with the motor starting to come in stronger. Gonna lean it out more this coming weekend. Here is what I found:


58" Extra w/ Saito 91

- Vertical is incredible, just about unlimited with this combo. having a hard time finding the right cg point. Cant hover it yet properly.
- Blenders are pretty good, my next goal is to master flat spins on it. Seems like it will perform it.
- Snap rolls are quick and ultra violent. Im not a sunday sport flyer, I wring all I can out of my thumbs within my skill set

Plane is old, used, abused but it keeps on ticking. No complaints so far other than I wish VectorFlight would produce a 3D version of it in the 66" size. id buy 2 in a heartbeat

Anyone have the exact CG point for the 58"? Id appreciate the info



regards

matt

Hi Guys,

I'm new here, just signed on....I finally got my VF 300 66" last week and got her built...

I had my maiden flight yesterday, I've only been flying with ailerons since last march and started with a Sig Kadet, I got tired of pushing her to the limit and felt it was time to move on... this is when I stumbled across Vector Flight Models, Wow what a bird...

I was really scared to fly it yesterday, I had never flown a low wing aircraft before..so I knew I was in for a pretty good challenge....over this weekend I ran two tanks through the brand new OS FX .91, and after taxing around on the logging dry land for another tank I felt she was good to go...

I leaned her out and ran it up a couple of times, then built up enough nerve to take off, she rotated perfectly and climbed out....I had to adjust a little up elevator because the nose was dropping a bit, I also added some right rudder to bring the port side wing level....after she was dialed in it flew like and arrow and way faster then what I was used to...I only ran her around at 1/2 throttle for the whole flight and never did open her up all the way...it was enough of a hand full as is...after a few circuits I did a couple of line up passes for landing...on the first attempt I was too hot with the throttle cranked all the way back....I had to trim it back so she would idle right down.....I did a go around and then tried it again this time everything was good and I set her down....the only problem was the wheel pant on the starboard side spun around and tore off....

For now I have taken the wheel pants off and put slightly bigger wheels on till I get used to flying her a little better....she sure was touchy compared to the Kadet trainer I was used to !!!

I have a few questions for anyone who has one of these awesome birds....

I messed up when cutting the cowling holes for the engine...and need to space the distance between my spinner and the cowl, what should I use behind the spinner backing plate ??? a washer ??? I tried putting a piece of inner tube rubber there but it just heated up and spun....I only need to gain about an 1/8" - 1/4" any ideas ???

My second question is what to do with these stupid wheel pants to reenforce them ???

Thanks in advance...

Sam

No no no no!



It's not a good idea to place anything behind the spinner backplate as it would make it almost impossible to avoid the prop coming loose and flying off! Some even say you have to be careful when putting a spinner backplate between the prop and the engine.

You have two possible solutions:-

1/ Move the engine further forward, using large spacers behind the engine mountings. You could glue the spacer in place and provide a firewall that is the 1/4 further forward.

or

2/ Refit the cowl further back by reshaping the holes for muffler etc, and moving the mounting screws further forward.

Either way you will need larger holes for the muffler etc, but that's not so bad, especially with an OS 91 as it will provide more cooling and won't substantially effect the looks.

Good luck!

-David C.