captainjacobs

I would like to put a 3W 85 side-mounted on this bird without cuting hole in the cowl.
Could one of you guys, give me the width of the cowl ?
Thanks.

reyn3545

I can send you a measurement when I get home this evening, but I don't think its going to fit. I had a 3W 75 and considered it for this plane (sold by BVM now in the US), but the 3W heads are so much taller than the heads on a DA-100 that I opted to go with the 100.

I'll measure the entire width of the cowl where the cylinder head would meet it.

reyn3545

Its about 12 inches from side to side.

captainjacobs

12 inches, OK, the 85cc would not fit in this case. Or I have to put it inverted... What do you think about this.
Thanks reyn.

reyn3545

It should have plenty of power, and the weight advantage over a DA-100 would certainly help. My only concern would be the vibrations... some of the 3W's can be real shakers. Other than that, you should be fine, and running inverted you wouldn't have any issues with balance. You might be forced to run an inverted pitts muffler since the head would get in the way of plumbing for a canister.

captainjacobs

I decided to go with a DA85 inverted and a wrap around pitts muffler. It should be plenty of power and very light provided that I can make the gravity center without puting to much lead in the nose.

reyn3545

I had a new DA-85 and when I decided to buy this plane, I went with the DA-100... and put the DA-85 on ebay... funniest thing, the person that bought it has this exact plane (even the same scheme), and wanted to move from a DA-100 to the DA-85 for the same reasons that you mentioned! I think he would up selling the motor to generate some emergency cash, but everyone flying the DA-85 seems very impressed with the power to weight.

aerowiz

power to weight is very good. it is getting the aircraft to balance with such a light engine.

reyn3545

that was the reason I went with the 100... most of the 2.6 size planes were designed for the size and weight.

3DDevil

Pretty quite on here of late... I have just purchased this plane in the Castrol Aviator colours. It will be my first Comp plane and also first giant scale plane, so I am real newbie!! I plan on using a DA100 on MTW cans with 5955TG all round. I also will be running an Emcotec Mini 5 battery management system with dual 3000mah Lithium Manganese batts. I have a RHINO optical cut off switch also.... anyone have any recent news on thier planes good or bad?

3DDevil

Just thought that I would tell everyone that Xtreme Composite have fixed the servo wings problem. My plane has been supplied with hatches cut into the wing to mount the servos. Nice I was dreading putting the outer ones in!!...

reyn3545

I just finished the Fantasy Yellow scheme... same motor and cans setup. If you went with 70mm drop headers, plan on cutting about an inch off of the headers. Otherwise, your exhaust will wind up in the middle of your landing gear! Other than that, no real issues... it was my first composite build, but it went very quickly. I haven't flown it yet, but hope to in the next few weeks, weather permitting.

You can check here and on that other "giants" website... there are a couple of good build threads between the two. Good Luck!

3DDevil

Thanks reyn... they were the headers I was going to use (70mm)... so should I use 50mm or would these be too short? Also what type of servo arms did you use. Stock? I was considering using SWB Ali servo arms at 1.5". These are a little shorter than stock, but I think they will be fine.

Also I notice that a lot of people are using double phenolic arms so they can use ball joints. I want to go this way too. My question is where did you get the extra arms from? Did you buy the material and then make them yourself? Where do you get that stuff from?

Thanks for any replies... here is my bird...

BaldEagel

Phenolic is a process not a material, In my opinion the material used is too brittle and of unknown tensile strength to risk in one of my aircraft, so I cut new ones out of 2mm carbon sheet with 1mm carbon slot covers, adds something to the plane I think.

Mike

3DDevil

Man they look nice... wanna make me a set??? I will pay the shipping to OZ??

BaldEagel

You are not the first to ask that, send me a PM I may consider making some if enough people are interested?

Mike

reyn3545

You'll need to 70mm drop to get the cans positioned correctly in the fuse.. just cut about an inch off of the end of them... there's a lot of notes out here from DA and others about propper header length... it shouldn't be a problem performance wise.

Also, on the arms.... I originally went with teh phenolics bolted to WildHare rings... but they were IMPOSSIBLE to get into the elevators... when I did, they were so tall that I would have had to whittle out a LOT of the hole just to get the arms through.... so, I ordered SWB arms ... they worked perfect! I think I went with 1 1/2 length... just measure the phenolics and order the same length. You may have to sand a little on the holes to get clearance, but nothing like you would with the other setup.

Oh.. I'm using 5955 servos... they may be a little taller than others (I didn't measure) so that may have contributed to the problem with the Wild Hare rings.

3DDevil

Thanks for the replies!!.. Yes I have been reading these posts and the ones on the other GIANTS site. It was only your post the other day reyn3545 that alerted me to the fact that the 70mm headers need to be modified to fit.

How is your plane flying reyn? Does this engine and cans setup give the plane authority. Where does she hover at? Does it pull out of a hover with authority? Thanks

BaldEagle I have sent you a PM...

reyn3545

I haven't flown it yet, we were on vacation last week. I've got about 3 tanks through the motor, want to get at least a gallon through it on the ground, so it may be around Christmas before I can get it in the air. I am looking forward to it!

SpaceW

Hello,



I have one question for you : I am flying one of the first version of the Xtreme edge.(fantasy scheme) I am completely happy. This plane is a floatter, flys like a dream! I like it! I am strongly considering buying another one. I am wondering what the differences are between the old version and the new version. Could you tell me? ( are there some bays in the wings for the servos? this kind of things)



Thanks a lot!

Space

3DDevil

Well as I only own the new version (Castrol Aviator colours)... I can only comment on it... The biggest gripe I have read about this plane is the servo installation in the wings... and the factory has listened. Yes there is servo cutouts now in the wings on the Castrol planes.. I would imagine that the Fantasy schemes would be the same... anything else I wouldnt know... mine hasnt flown yet....

SpaceW

thanks Devil! you'll see you'll enjoy your edge!

JERRYNC

I bought mine in August and it came with the servo hatches in the wings. One problem I had with mine was that the ailerons would not deflect downward, the slot on the bottom of the wing that the aileron deflects into was not cut wide enough. Not a big fix but you would think at this price it would have came correct. Using DA 100 on standard DA mufflers, have dual batteries and regulators, smoke sys., not weighed but man this thing flys awesomely.

reyn3545

Mine's ready to go.. I did decide to go down to 4 inch wheels... I had the 4 1/2 inch, but even pulling it across the floor in the basement, I noticed that they sometimes drag on the inside top of the wheel pants.

Mine came in just over 27 pounds, should be fine for a 100cc...

quick question... how much glide path does this plane have when landing? I've never actually seen one of these fly!

RTK

My Feedback: (1)

Here are a couple of pics of mine. I split the cowl to make it easier to baffle but I haven't completed it yet because the temps on the engines haven't been that bad, come summer I will definitely do a much better job. I fitted this plane for a 106 and a 115. The picture of the wing is what I did to solve the problem of installing the servos. The servo cut outs were to small so I had to enlarge them, I did not want to try and be Houdini. Everything is easily removed for convenience, especially the smoke system