Have you guys seen the new Extra 260 schemes posted on the Composite-ARF World website?

http://www.composite-arf-world.com/c...docs/index.htm

They have pictures of the "Kiwi" scheme and it also says the "Fantasy" scheme is available.

In case the home page has already changed, I'll post the pictures. The new "Kiwi" scheme is being produced in a blue/turquoise scheme for Frazer Briggs, and also a "Yellow Kiwi" scheme.

Bob Shapiro called and let me know there were two of the yellow scheme in the first shipment that is scheduled to arrive at the end of January. I immediately placed my order to get my name on one!!!!!!!

Merry Christmas to me!!!!!!

Darcy Wingo has already been hired to build it. It's supposed to arrive in the U.S. around the end of January.

Everybody that's interested can PayPal me a couple bucks, and I'll forward them to Darcy to do a build thread on this one!!

Happy holidays!!

Dean Bird
Sun Valley Fliers
Phoenix, AZ

Looks sweet Dean. I'll look forward to seeing it and you ( Newby advanced meat ) at one of the Norcal contests in '06.


Shawn

Dean,
Congratulations on your new plane. It's the best looking color scheme so far. Good taste!!!! I am thinking of getting same one you ordered. But I still want to see how the Fanstay scheme looks on the 260.

Kevin

<<...newby advanced meat...>>

LOL. You gotta hate it when you move up in classification. I see that attitudes regarding competition are the same regardless of the game.

Dean, is this a kit? I assume it is a composite fuse with sheeted foam wings?

Steve, the Comp ARF airplanes are 100% hollow molded fiberglass. Really cool airplanes. As for Dean being new meat.... Dean is a really good guy and I look forward to competing against him because he is a true competitor that has a great attitude about the sport.


Shawn Berkheimer

R/C Blimp Productions.com

Thanks Kevin. The Fantasy scheme has looked awesome on every airframe it's been painted on. I definitely think you need one with a Fantasy scheme. You don't have enough airplanes yet!!! Your wife is incredible!!

Hi Steve,

All the guys in the Southwest are always having fun, and giving each other a hard time about what class they're flying. It's definitely a "game", and we all enjoy it. We have a large group of guys that fly together a lot, tease each other a lot, help each other a lot, and congratulate each other's success a lot. As for the competition part, we like getting a chance to compete against each other, too. We have an awesome region to fly in.

The Composite-ARF airplanes usually are pre-painted in the mold. Occassionally, someone will order a white one and paint it themselves. That's why you see the discussion on which scheme someone is buying. It's already painted just like you see in the pictures in my first post. The picture of the yelllow one is just the plane taken out of the box, setting the hatch on, setting the rudder on, plugging the wings and stabs in, and setting the cowl on. As Shawn mentions, the wing is a composite shell. It has a main spar, a balsa trailing edge in front of the hinge line, and a continuous hinge laminated into the wing across the entire length of the aileron. The wings are light and strong!!

Good luck with your contests in 2006. You'll learn a lot, meet a bunch of cool people, and hopefully have a blast!!

Take care,

Dean Bird
Sun Valley Fliers
Phoenix, AZ

Okay, thanks. Too cool. That sounds like one VERY expensive airplane.

As for the "new meat" comment being made in jest, I got that. You hear the same thing around many other competitive disciplines.

Congrats Dean.
If I hadn't bought the Carden at the SW Championships, I would have one on the way as well. These are big improvements over the first color schemes.

Andy

Can the yellow be ordered or is it an aftermarket scheme?

Kiwi Yellow is one of the standard schemes. It's being sold for $2490. Check out http://www.composite-arf.com/ar/Catalog?cat=32 for details.

Thanks,

what is the advantage of the 260 vs the 330 (regular or super xtra)?? I'm talking precision and 3d.

I know I'm hoping the Extra 260 flies precision even better than the 330S. My 3.0m Extra 330S was awesome!! I'm guessing the 3.0m size and weight performs better on a 150 than the 3.1m Super Extras. But that's just a hunch. I haven't flown the Super Extra.

Frazer Briggs took the Extra 260 home from the Tucson Shootout. He likes the way it flies so much he requested his own paint scheme!!! That was good news for us. Now I've got a Yellow Kiwi scheme on the way!!!

I have flown both Composite-ARF Extra 3.0m (standard mufflers) and 2 SuperXtra's (with MTW 110 canisters). So far I like the SuperXtra's much better. The SuperXtra's track and present better in IMAC sequences. I am sure that Extra 260 will fly better than the SuperXtra's though due to its mid-wing design.

From your keyboard to the airplane god's ears. I can't wait to see how it flies!!!!!!!!!

Hey Dean, let us know.
dan

Here's a pic of Frazer carrying out "Hover Testing" on the prototype.

Alan,

From that view the color scheme looks good. How does Frazier compare this 260 to his PBG version.

I'm very interested to hear any flight reports from Frazer.

There is a a thread in the "Giant" forum from a guy that just took delivery of his new 260 with one of the original schemes.

http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_3654062/tm.htm

The comments in that thread are impressive.

"This wing weighs NOTHING, and is very tough aerodynamically."

"The amount of prefab is really cool, control arms are in the surfaces, hatch is completely done with screws and all (minus canopy). All the internal parts are literally sand, snap, and glue together."

"By the way, the fuselage weighs NOTHING! It has to be less than 3 pounds, and its HUGE."

"As far as the plane, I cannot say enough of how much thought and engineering went into this plane. They might be expensive, but so much work is done for you, that you do truely only assemble it. The stabs have even already been fitted, drilled, countersunk, tapped and had blind nuts epoxied in the stab tube, as is the canopy frame, while all control arms are already in place. Pretty slick!"

"The composite work is top notch, as always. I am curious to how much the bare fuse weighs. I would guess 2lbs tops. Everything seemed to be terminated properly, filets were done properly with a nice constant radius (not that that helps anything, it just shows the pride of the person making it) and the carbon tow looks like it has been wet out properly."

I'm really looking forward to getting this one!!!!!!!!!!!

Take care,

Dean Bird
Sun Valley Fliers
Phoenix, AZ

Howdy

I brought the prototype 260 back to NZ after the Shootout. Have managed to get out and fly it a fair amount over the last month. After 8 years flying our own 260, I can say this one is awesome !! So good that I ordered another.

Tracks better than my big 260. [X(] Snaps better than my big 260. [X(] What I noticed straight away is the way it exits the snaps. As soon as you let go of the sticks it stops instantly and gets right back on line. WHAM. No over rotation or wing wobbling afterwards, sometimes my bigger 260 does this if you don't quite nail it. Its got 3 x 8411's per ailerons. My big 260 only has a pair of 8511's per ailerons. This maybe why. Even half snap's are easier.

Knife edge is great. Yes it needs some mixing to stop it pushing to the belly, but nothing out of the ordinary. I'm yet to measure the amount of up elevator I have in on the mix. Its probably about 10mm. (Ha, couldn't resist that one, just for you imperial guys).
But what I really like is the minimal rudder to aileron mix it needs. Only 1% or 2%. My big 260's for some reason have always needed a lot of rudder to aileron mix to stop them rolling out of knife egde. And worse it needs more one way then the other. So when you try and do a really slow circle, like a one roller, this is a big problem because the rudder mix takes over in parts of the circle and you have to sometimes have to give opposite, or no aileron, to keep the roll rate constant. NO MORE OF THAT !! WOOHOO

After flying it for a while I felt the CG was slightly rearward. One day I was out flying and it was bloody windy, this is where rearward CG shows up. So I've moved the CG forward to 30% MAC (same as my big 260). This has made it even better all round.

3D stuff is great. The 260's mid wing means when you are hovering you don't need up elevator in all the time to keep it vertical.

I've got the DA-150 in it on a pair of MTW-110 cannisters. Power is good. I brought home a 3 blade 30x12.5 Mezlick prop to try, the noise level is amazing. So good that I'm able to fly it at my "noise sensitive" local club flying field 15 mins drive from my home. In the past all my TOC practice had to be done at a full size aerodrome miles and miles away because of the noise.
I expect to run the two blader in contests though. Remember I'm at sea level down here, so we always loose a bit of power when we come over the Shootout. For now I have enough power on the 3 blader to get through unlimited pattern.

The headers it had in it were a bit too short according to the measurements I got from DA. It was a bit peaky at the bottom end which was making 3D stuff and hovering a bugger. So I took the headers out last week and put in a set of cross over headers. Made a huge difference. Nice and smooth around the bottom end now. Much better in the hover.

So new 260 I ordered is now called the "Kiwi" scheme, and with a bit of luck it will get to NZ in January sometime. I have a set of full length Greve Pipes to go in this one.

If it went pissing down with rain today [>:], I'd be off to the field now to fly it some more.

Later,
Frazer

Alrighty..... here are a few more pics.

Thanks for the flight report Frazer!! I really appreciate it.

I couldn't bear to order one until the "Kiwi" scheme came out. I thank you for that too!!

Now I'll have an awesome looking plane that's getting top notch construction feedback and world class flight reports. I'm really looking forward to flying it next year!!!!!!

Any chance you could post a picture of the cross-over headers and MTW canisters? That's the set-up I'll be going with.

Happy holidays!!

Dean

Dude... the FANTASY Scheme would even look great on my Ex-Wife!!!!!

Hi Dean

Below are some pics of the Cross-over header installation in my 3M Extra 330 Comp-Arf.

Hi Alan,

Is the first picture the motor dome on the Extra 260? Any chance there's a picture of the inside of the Extra 260 like the canister picture in your 330?

Thanks!!

Dean