Check the length on my Sullivan; it comes right to the back of the former; I have a piece of balsa across the former to stop it from falling out but everything is nice and flush.

Thanks Chemie

I just went out at lunch time and bought a Du bro 16oz tank - the dimension from the back of the firewall to the inside of the former is 5 15/16" (151mm) the 16oz du bro tank is 5 7/8" (149mm). Should just squeek in - might have to remove the servo rail to do it though[].

Have you had a chance to maiden your extra yet?

I had to put my Rx under the servo rails so I could move the tank in and out without a complete gut. It all depends on where you happened to mount the servo rails. Mine were fairly far back which helped; the tank can sit in there and then slide forward into the tank compartment.

I had mine at the field for check-out 2 weeks ago; Ran into some engine issues; Pulled the tank and re-did some tubing and just finished re-checking today at my house. Eninge seems to be reasonably tuned and runs good. Man the ST-90 sure pulls like heck; I can barely hold the plane back as I was checking the running at full tilt up.

Now just waiting on the weather; rain for next 5 days if you believe the forecast ;-(

The Du bro 16oz fits easily into the front compartment without having to remove servos or other anciliaries. The tank does touch both the firewall and therear former of the tank compartment though. But it goes in without stressing anything so all is good.

Has anyone installed a remote glow on this plane? If so where did you mount it? I have one and with the engine being inverted thought it may make things easier during starting but not quite sure how to go about it.

Looking forward to the maiden report Chemie. What is your AUW?

Andrew,
My remote glow is mounted to the fire wall. I made a small cut out in the cowl to put the glow ignighter on. I put mine on the left side if you are at the front looking at the plane. I suppose where you mount it is up to you. I just picked a side no special reason for that side.
Alan

Thanks Alan I think I will do the same and position the fuel dot for filling there as well.

Pretty much finished now except for spraying the cowl and wheel spats. Fitted the remote glow and 16oz fuel tank. Glued on the canopy using canopy glue - this did not work as well as I would have liked as after applying the glue and taping down, then leaving overnight to dry the canopy was not seated all the way round as it had been before applying the glue. Some of the glue had also leaked out and made smudge marks down the fuselage. I popped off the canopy and removed the glue from the covering using laquer thinners. I was wary of using the thinners on the clear canopy and scrubbed using only warm water. The glue came off but the nice new looking canopy finish is gone [&o].

I have reattached the canopy using 18 servo screws and may or may not try the canipoy glue as well.

I rechecked the CG and adjusted to 4 1/8" from LE by positioned the battery just behind the fuel tank (photo).

AUW 3,850g (8.66lb).

Ready to break in the engine.[8D]

Andrew,

First, C'mom now , Show me a picture with it right side up settin on the wheels.

You were right to keep the thinners away from the canopy. Chances are they would have killed it. Especially lacquer thinner.

My luck with the so called canopy glue has been the same as yours. I once used it to glue in flat panel side windows on a 40 size Super Decathlon. The next day, all I had to do was thump them, and they popped right off[X(]. There is obviously something that I am not getting right. Reverted to CA. That stuff will ruin a canopy too. If you trap the fumes it will fog the inside of the canopy.

Anyway, upside down or not it is looking good. Did it balance where you wanted it? What will you use for paint. If you have already told us.....Sorry[:-] Oh, one more question, do you recall the weight of your engine?

The recommended CG range is 4 1/8" +/- 3/8" (back from LE). Mine balanced at 4 3/16" back from LE, but there is scope to move the battery forward as I have mounted it on velcro strips so repositioning it is easy.

For paint I have had some 2K automotive paint mixed up to match the red ultracoat, hope to get a chance to spray at the weekend.

The canopy now looks like it is 10 years old from the gluing, removal and washing. I may order another from GP in the near future. Fixing with servo screws was easy and neat.

The Saito 125 weighs 700g (just over 1.5 pounds).

I used this glue (fairly standard fair): [link=http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXCX70&P=7]glue[/link]

It worked fine. I used rubber bands and tape and it all stayed down. The main thing was prep to ensure it fit real snug and even before I glued.

Andrew,

I am looking forward to seeing the finished airplane.

Good Luck with the paint. What, if anything will you use for primer? I am sure you know this but for some of the readers that might be new to painting, use light coats with the paint on those plastic pants and cowl. The thinners in the paint can sometime soften the plastic and then cause distortion.

Man, that Saito is light. I am messing around with an old Enya R120-4c and that thing weighs in at 2lbs 1 3/8 ounces (944 grams). I'd never put that one on my Extra though. Still planning on the Super Tigre 90 for that. Even it (muffler and all) weighs in a little more than your Saito 125. I am impressed. I might have to look into one of those when I save a few coins.

If any of the scratching and such of your canopy is mostly on the outside, you could give some plastic polish a try. It can be bought at the auto parts store. One of the intended uses is for polishing plastic head light lenses and such. Use a soft cloth and a little time and you can get it cleaned up a bit. Heck, if the canopy is still removable, you could polish up the inside just the same.

I have no idea which would be easier/cheaper polishing what you have or buying a new one.

Anyway, Good Luck...............

Chemie: That is the glue that I used. I lined all up marked the fuselage with a sharpie, then applied the glue and used masking tape to hold in position. I believe that the little bit of "spring" in the cowl lifted the masking tape around the edges.

I have refitted with servo screws abd have a good fit all around except for the front left where there was a gap of around 1/16" between the cowl and the fuselage. I placed a cloth over the cowl and used a heat gun on the high spot - carefully. It worked, shrunk nice and snug. I could now use the canopy glue and get an excellent fit.

Now to add some covering around the cowl edges.

Rick : I haven't seen the plastic polish before but will have a look as I have a headlight lens that could benefit anyway.

I have 2K MS primer for the plastic cowl and etch primer for the aluminium legs. Light coats, Sometimes it is easy to get carried away in the moment..... Thanks for the reminder.

Yes. It was "springy". The rubber bands helped keep things pushed down. I did not mark because the felt pen can end up under where you glued. I just ran a bead around the canopy and pushed it down. Taped and rubber bands. There is a bit of glue smudge for a few mm around the edge as it was pushed down but it is hidden with a 1/4" wide striping tape.

Andrew,

I was taking some pictures for another project and noticed my plastic polish setting near by. So, for grins, here is a picture of the stuff I was talking about.

Hey Guys,

Just in case anyone is interested, Here are some internet pictures that give a pretty good persepctive of where the "Pilot" is in relation to the canopy of the full scale (one seat) Extra.

Hi Rick thanks for the photos - I notice that Chemie and I have both used artistic liscence and positioned the pilot on the available former rather than in the more rearward scale position .

As I still have a detachable canopy I could change the position- though this would require removing the cockpit internal covering gluing in an appropriate support rail etc, etc.[&o]

Another paint related question. I noted that the primer I have bought for the cowl indicates that it is not suitable for thermoplastics. Does anyone know if ABS falls into this category? The primer is Duco MS primer for fibreglass and previously painted surfaces. There is an alternative plastic primer but I thought the fibreglass primer would be more versatile.

Andrew,

Yes, ABS is absolutely considered a thermoplastic. Technically, the process used to form the cowl and pants is called ther****rming. (I spent just a few years in the business)

If you have any of the plastic scraps from trimming you could give it a try. Also the primer for plastic is designed to be a bit more flexible in addition to chemically made different to bond to the plastic. If the cost is not too much the other primer would be a safer bet.

The warning could simply be In the automotive world (it is paint for auto’s after all) if you use standard primer on a plastic body part, like a bumper, as soon as you bump that shopping cart the paint chips off the bumper down to the plastic because the primer did not properly bond.

This is probably a little more than you wanted but sometimes my fingers just want stop typing.

My pilot was too "tall". In fact, I had to perform a "Hemicorporectomy" (cut off at the stomach area). So I positioned where the height of the canopy was at a maximum. This gave the most head clearance so I did not have to cut so much off that it would not look right. This was a "modified" GJ Joe.

..besides, his arms have to be able to reach the instrument panel, otherwise I might crash

Does anyone know where to get a fiberglass cowl? The ABS one has already split in a few places.

Hi Chemie this is the only one I know of - I may have a bash at making my own. You can also make wheel pants out of balsa quite successfully.


[link]http://www.fiberglassspecialtiesinc.com/[/link]

Hey guys...need some repair help.

Background: I tried nylon bolts (#8) but on a greased landing, as soon as wheels hit the grass, the gear was toren off. I went back to #8 bolts.

This week-end, I would not really call it a landing, it was hard and off the runway into the heavy brush but here is what I am left with. I suppose using the blind nuts weaken the ply a bit but I did not like the idea of the woods screws provided in the kit...

Anyway, I do not want to tear out the the firewall sheeting ply and whole under belly to replace the entire rail....alternatives?

I thought about a few different approaches but settled on this:

Made some 1/4" ply from 1/8" ply by laminating (one side at 90 deg) with gorilla glue and clamps.
Glued a 1/4" ply strip under the existing rail (it did not go all the back to the next former).
Glued in a stub 1/4" piece on top.
Glued a 1/8" ply on the side over the joint for strength in the vertical.

I put the blind nuts only on the stub piece and cut the bolts so they only went that far. That way, there was full strength on the bottom rail.

Some photos on the steps...

In the same "landing" the wing tore off the fuse too. I was surprised the nylon bolts did not break but instead the mounting plate tore out (I had epoxied that too). There is not a lot of strength on the fuse sides where the wing bolt plate mounts. Anyway, that just glued right back in. A bit of covering on the wing to fix too.

Back in the saddle.

(PS I have only had this one out twice and both times parts came back in the bag and I spent the next few days fixing...not to mention the ribbing from the wife and kids about "crashes".)

Sorry to hear about your planes"energetic" landing habits.

I haven't taken mine up yet, procrastinating I guess, still need to spray the cowl and wheel pants, but I have run a couple of tanks of fuel through the engine on the ground.

I will learn from your experiences and reinforce the landing gear beams.

Interesting about the wing mounting plate as during construction when I was fitting the fuselage wing profile to the wing I had a gap of about 0.5mm at the wing mount area. When I tightened the wing bolts the mounting plate "popped" out. It had also been epoxied in. Glued it back in and added some balsa tri stock underneath for additional support.

I tried to add tri-stock but it was hard to get at now it is covered.

By gap, I assume you mean between the wing and the wing mounting plate. I added some balsa on the wing because I was worried about stress on the wing from the bolts (wings dihedral meant it was not flat on the plate).

I did something similar but used microballoons instead.