I also bought one given the price. I won't get to it for a while, but it would be great if someone could do a build thread on one. From what I have read these kits build heavy and I'd love to find ways to lighten it a little before I attempt the build.

Which kit are you talking about and what do you consider heavy?

The 80" kits come out heavy for their size. They come out to a weight that is normally seen in planes of about 88" wingspan nowdays. It's easy to see why when looking at them. They were good for their day but the construction techniques have come a long way in the last 15 years since they were designed. Just looking at the 80" Extra there are several pieces in the plane that weigh a ton...stuff like the wing joinder, gear plate etc...Some of it can be lightened but a new design with a 2 piece wing and a tube is going to weigh a 1/2 pound less just in the wing, possibly more if you use a carbon fiber tube. Not only does the new design make the wing lighter the front of the plane gets lighter in the motor box area because the box can simply come back and enclose the wing tube instead of making a whole structure that has to tie in the motor box/landing gear/and the front of the fuse.

It's not a pig but it's not a lightweight modern design either.

I've heard the Cap is a lot lighter than the Extra (of which I 'swapped' for the Cap) DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

My post was in response to the preceding post (#25), and the topic was the little CAP at $70. Before I ordered the kit I did a quick search on RCU and a few people had mentioned that the kit built heavy. I don't have any specifics on the weight, and given the price I ordered it anyway.

The box for the Little Cap says 7.5 to 8.5 lbs. I think with a little effort, 7.5 is doable, which gives a wing load of 24.9 oz/sqft. Not terrible.
By contrast, this ARF Extra(which I own)states 7.5-8lbs, no wing loading available. This plane is built light and looks like it's made with balsaply swiss cheese.
I think mine weighs about 7.25lb with a Saito 100.
http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...?&I=LXMUY2&P=0

I ordered the 80" CAP for my son to build. He graduated from college last May and looking for work has been pretty scarce. This will be the second kit that he's built. The first was a Sig 4-star 40.

The kit arrived in great condition. Of course these kits have the plastic cowl and wheel pants. I ordered a painted cowl from Horizon Hobby. I thought their old CAP arf used to be based on these. I think a fiberglass one was $45, this one was $30. Anyway I'll let you know if it fits.

Well I will agree they are heavier than some of the modern designed 3-d style planes, I do like the way the 80" MW Extra flies.
A bit more realistic and challenging than the newer hovercraft available.

I don't like how the modern hoverplanes fly. I know how to 3D but I think it's ridiculous now. It's really silly to watch. I enjoy flying graceful pattern lines with some wicked snaps, flatspins, and lomcevoks. A little extra weight makes for a much better pattern type plane (obviously not taken to extremes).

Mike

Well I've done some more work on my Extra, I'm at the finial prep for covering stage,,
I'm not so happy with the fit on many things.

1-Wing saddle needed some shimming to fit the fuse square, I don't know what happened here, maybe I wasn't careful enough when I framed it up. I looked and measure, couldn't find any mistakes so I had to add 3/32 balsa on the left side of the saddle, fuse sits square now.

2- the gaps,, the other kits I build were the flat horizontal stab types, this is the first airfoil tail I built and the gap is ridiculous,, I'll have to fill that with 3/32 also. +

3-Why in the world did they design it so you had to cut part of the leading edge to slide it into the fuse,, and then patch it back?? this makes covering more difficult

picture show the problem spots I'm not happy with