I went with the carbon gear from TBM. It adds tons of prop clearance but I had to redrill the mounting hloes in the fuse to make it work. I think it was around 50 bucks. Let us know how the maiden goes for you I hope to be finishing mine soon as I haven't had a lot of free time lately.

The maiden went well today. I had 3 flights today, and boy was it hot here in VA (85 degrees at 8:00 am and very muggy). I left the field by 11:00. I was literaly sweatn bullets on the maiden. After trimming this beast out, it flew pretty well. I only have a 6 channel radio, and have the elevators mixed, so it was a little toublesome to get them right ( still not perfect ). The landings were a bit scary, this being my first plane this big. I spread the landing gear a little on the first one. Eventually once I learn the plane a little better it will be a real nice flyer. The DL started and ran like a dream, but I need to start adjustments on it. My friend ( with better skills than me ) liked it also. I did some knife edges, some rolls, tried to hover a little nothing too fancy. Over all it was pretty good. AND HOT.

Kenny ,
I think the plane flew great! Real nice seems to hover easy didnt notice any coupling in KE at those rates and flat spins well.
The video turned out B&W looking from all the haze and humidity so Ill get to that later this week. Overall I think you got a winner,The plane looks huge in the video

Mike,

I have been flying this plane a lot the last few weeks since I put my QQ YAK in, (it is almost fixed now), I must say again, this is one awesome flying plane, I have mine on the nose heavy side for flying IMAC, but it will still 3D OK. Anyway I got some more video yesterday and I will try and post it later on.....

Thanks SD_Models for another great product!

Conrad

Here is a link to the video it didn't turn out too good but thought I would post it anyway.....

Conrad


http://www.dodvideos.com/SDModelsExtra260Aug07.wmv

The video is fine,nice landing. Where is your C.G.? Mine is ready to fly and I've read that the recommended 6.5" sets the plane up a little tailheavy.

Thanks

Not too sure I have about 4 oz on the firewall to get it a little nose heavy, I started at around 6.5 but I haven't measured it since I added weight I just added weight until I felt it was right where I wanted it for flying IMAC. For 3D I would defintly remove the weight.

Conrad

Well I finally got mine done! CG was really looking bad until I thought to fill the gas tank halfway up. Balanced great after that. I'll put the wheelpants on AFTER the first landing to see how things go!

Looks great. What hardware did you use? Doesn't look stock. How's the DL so far? Mine's doing great. I flew about six flights on Saturday. I'm really enjoying this plane.

Used the stock hardware with a few bells and whistles left over from my WH Edge 540T (the plastic surrounds on the screw heads and the aluminum stand-offs on the pull-pull). The DL is awesome!! Got the fuel up in the lines and two flips with the choke on and it popped. Two more flips and it purred like a kitten. Transition is instantaneous as is the power. I'm gonna love flying this bird!

Any suggestions on the initial CG for IMAC-style flying? I am also almost done the the kit. If 6.5" behind the LE is too much, then 5.5" reasonable? Thx

Mine seems to be a little ahead of the 6.5. I should maiden it this weekend and will let you know how it does. Should have some video of the maiden. I can tell you one thing, without a half a tank of gas this plane is tail heavy.

When I balanced mine I automaticaly put the ignition battery all the way up front. The other 2 reciever batteries, I put the plane on a CG machine at the recomended 6.5" and moved move the batteries around to where the plane balanced with 3/4 tank of fuel. Without any fuel the plane is just a little tail heavy.

Yeah, I did the same but forgot to put the fuel in. Just about the time panic was setting in I thought of it. That balanced it nicely. Hopefully I'll get to fly it this weekend and get some video of the maiden.

Did anyone have any issues with down-thrust??? I have a DL-50 in mine with 3" stand-offs and it has a severe down-thrust problem. Every time you get on the throttle it pulls it down. I just put two washers under the bottom mounts to try and correct the problem. Just wondering if anyone else had the same problem.

Are the down-thrust degree and wing incidence OK, in relation to the deck?

down-thrust - close to 0 degree
wing incidence - definitely 0 degree

After I put a thick washer under each bottom mount I got 2 degrees of up thrust in relation to the angle of incidence which was set at 0. When I measured from the back of the thrust plate to the cowl it was equal top to bottom after the mod.

Glad to hear it.

BTW, does the plane fly fast?

Haven't flown it since the mod but when we trimmed it to fly at fast speeds it screamed. This DL-50 is awesome.

Cool. I need to find a good day to fly mine. It has been raining in Central Texas for a week. Not very common.

Were you using 22X10 prop? That is the prop I have. May switch to 23X8 if it flies too fast for IMAC.

Rains here 300 days a year! Forgive me if I don't get excited about your rainfall! LOL Trust me, I know how you feel!

I wanna see the video of LOU55's flight !! Well, actually I was there. I really just wanted to hear that DL 50 running again. Great sounding engine!

That would be Michael J Meyer right? Oh no, Miller! Okay Mike, Here's the video, boring as it is.

http://media.putfile.com/Second-Flight-20


Al

Maiden mine today with head-wind around 16. The plane definitely flies elevator touching and has the tendency to drop the nose. Difficult to tell what is going on. Will check the a few things before considering making it nose-heavier.

Mine was the same. Turns out you have to balance this thing without fuel at about 6" or less. Move the control rods down to make the elevator less touchy and had to put in up-thrust as everytime we hit the throttle it dove. Hoping I got everything good for the weekend.