Kevin,
I've got a Minus kit to build then I may order a Hardbet.

Wade

I'll keep moving the CG back untill I get it where I like it. I'm in no hurry. I generally like the CG to be at the spot where it flies hands off upright or inverted. Trust me, with all that fuel in the nose the CG is moved forward quite a bit. There are quite a few other tweaks I need to look at as well before I get too hasty, but I feel like a kid in a candy store right now. If it can do all those things I described in a condition that "feels" nose heavy to me... my god... what will it do when I get it where I like it Right now the elevator throw is around 45 degrees (I can add more and probably will). Extreme? You could say that

Outstanding plane Kevin. If the reaction I got on my first trip out to the field is any indication of the interest this plane is generating, you had better get those gear ready

Kevin

Wade, take it from someone who has flown the UCD, it in no way compares to the ecstasy. I will tell you why guys like it, because it is an arf, cheap and has some capabilities. But its capabilities fall short of the ecstasy and many other fun fly planes. Not saying the ucd is not good, just not as capable, for no more than it cost it is a good buy, but if you want performance in that size plane the ecstasy is the better choice and I am hard to please on performance. [email protected] Thanks and I hope that helps,
Jeff Williams

Jeff,
Thanks for the info. I hope to see one fly soon. I'm not going to Houston but hopefully of you guys will do another get together near Memphis.

Wade

Well Wade, I was just lucky to have the days off for the Houston pro bro. Bummer you cannot make it but maybe there will be another near you. Jeff W.

No luck today. My last day to fly before my 4 day work week (12 hour days). I had the whole day to myself, and what happens you ask? Too freaking windy!! Gusts had to be up to 40mph or so at least across the runway. I couldn't keep the wings on the plane without it blowing away, regardless of my "tie-down" method. I waited it out for 2 hours and had to go home. I even went back towards the end of the day hoping for a bit of calm... no luck. Normally I would fly in that wind no problem... you might say I encourage it. But I'm not "feeling it" from that Saito just yet. 3 flights so far with 1 deadstick. A deadstick in that wind would have been a dead plane.

To sum all of this up: It's a tribute to the design of the Ecstasy. I haven't been this excited to fly since day 1 on the buddy box.

Kevin

Sorry to hear that you did not get a chance to play again today. I felt the same way this past Sunday. Sunday was my only avail day to fly and we had the same kind of winds. I flew for a little while, and when I landed the Ecstasy backwards on the runway, I figured that the wind was a bit too much. Then I lost my grip on the wing when I removed it, and it blew half way down the runway Fortantantly - no damaged!
Kevin

Here's a picture of my Ecstasy. I'm not done with the graphics yet, but I like to fly them a few times before I get too crazy
That's my Pizazz in the backround (been through hell and back)
Kevin

And another... Lost a bit of quality in the shrinking of the images. The bottom of the plane is in the exact opposite scheme, white with black stripes.

Kevin

Hef's jet was my inspiration... if you were wondering

Kevin

Where's the babes? - Hugh, I mean Heff, I mean Kevin Looks radically different with the engine rotated up and missing that top nose pc. You're right, it needs some more graphics. I am so glad that you're enjoying its flight characteristics. It is a pretty awesome bird, but it means allot more coming from a customer over the designer <LOL>.
Enjoy and be sure to send me some pictures with all of the graphics installed. BTW - What prop are you running on that beast?
Kevin

Right now I'm running a 16x8. Untill I get a few more flights on her and get the engine dialed in perfectly I won't know if I like it. From what I've seen thus far I do like the prop.

Kevin

16X8 - Isn't that awfully small for a Saito 150? Or is it because of the altitude. I would have thought that you would need something larger because the air was thinner. Am I wrong?
What about a 18 X6W APC or an 18 X 6 Pro Zinger? Personally I prefer the wood. Quicker accel and decel.
If you are getting climbing flat spins with a 16 x 8 on a Saito 150, I can't imagine what it will do with a larger diameter prop! That would have to be simply awesome!!! You've got to take some movies of this Ecstasy!!!
Kevin

Actually a 16x8 is a pretty decent prop for a 1.50, but I do plan on experimenting. Right now my engine isn't broken in all the way and I'm really only turning about 8500 rpm's max, even with the 16x8. There are some engine tweaks I need to do yet as well. I do plan on using an 18 inch prop in the near future however . I also like wood props better, so we'll see where it takes me. I'd take some movies but my 8mm sony isn't digital ... I don't think I have the required hardware to convert it, but I could be wrong. Hehehe, I'm thinking about flying it today after work (around a 13 hour night, give or take)

Kevin

I was going to say - You're up awlfully early your time!
I've got an 8mm and a digital camera. You can send me the 8mm and I'll see if I can convert it if you like.
BTW - I ran a 16 x 8 APC on my Webra 120s. that is why I thought that an 18 x 6 would be good on that Saito 150, though I realize that you are flying at 6,000' above sea level, and I'm not.
Kevin

I'm going to try an 18x6 to be certain, and I've also heard of an 18x5 that would probably be better, although I've not yet seen one for sale. When I get my wife out to the field and get some video, I'll send it to you to convert for sure. I appreciate the offer. I'm be sure to include some "good" stuff, but it could take a while. My wif'es not the die-hard I am and it's still pretty cold up here in the high desert.

The 6000' gives about a 20% decrease in power on any given engine. It's a rule of thumb the guys seem to use around here and from my experience isn't far off.

Kevin

Took her out again today with the CG set about 1/2 inch behind the spar. It flew even better! I need to go back another 1/2 inch or so to get it where I want it, but boy did it come alive. Everthing was better, and the landings were some of the slowest I've seen.

I'm having to replace the 1/4 20 nylon bolts that are used to hold the landing gear on with 5/16 nylon. I ripped the landing gear off twice today, and that was on pavement!. The first time was a dead stick about 4 ft off the ground on takeoff. I had her at about a 75 degree angle with almost zero forward airspeed. It came back down at about a 40 degree angle and sheared the nylon bolts. That one was acceptable because of the situation, however the second time was not. The second time was after a perfect landing. I started to taxi her to the pits and the wind kicked up a bit skidding the plane sideways on the runway (I used aileron to keep the wings level). Well, the fact that one of my wheels locked up and the jarring from skidding sideways sheard the nylon bolts on the landing gear yet again. I believe it was a combination of bad nylon bolts and the fact that the diameter was too small. All said and done I have to redo the bottom of the plane with monokote.

The flight characteristics of this plane were unbelievable! Knife edge all day long. I just circled the field over and over in knife edge, quite unbelievable because I could never hold knife that long with any of my other planes. I tried a knife edge loop a few times and did get an ugly one. I will have to dial in more rudder... right now I have my ATV set all the way around at about 80% (auto travel volume of the servos). Didn't get to fly too many times due to engine trouble and the fact that I had to work again tonight. I plan on taking her out again on Sunday, so we'll see what happens.

Cheers,

Kevin

Kevin - My CF LG is installed with three (3) #10-24 nylon bolts, and I haven't had any problem. I realize that your weather is probably significantly colder, so I would recommend getting some Rocket City nylon bolts. These have more elasticity, but I wouldn't thing that you needed to go to anything above 1/4-20s.

I can't believe that you are able to move the CG back so far! What are you doing to move the CG back? Where are you at now? CG wise? It sounds like I need to start playing some more with my Ecstasy!
Thanks for the feedback! Keep it coming!
Kevin

Well, I haven't been able to fly since the other day, but probably Sunday I will fly all day and experiment. I'm going to try an 18x5 wooden prop as well. As for the CG, what I have been doing is just drilling out some lead and attaching it with the tail wheel screws and mounting it right up against the tail wheel assembly.
I'm still at 1/2 inch back from the spar "dry". I will do another 1/2 inch on Sunday though and see how that goes. Remember, I have 16oz of fuel in the nose. Moving the CG back so far on my bird doesn't affect it the way it would if you had a smaller tank (until i'm out of gas that is). After I set the CG where I like it I will move the battery pack rearward to compensate (right now it's still in the rear of the radio compartment.

I picked up some white nylon bolts from Home Depot. They seem to be much more flexible than the black nylon bolts I had. They were obviously too brittle, but I will still use the 5/16 because I would almost have the LGB rip out than the damage I have caused with the ashphalt. (and both incidents were at probably only at 5mph or so)

The Saito 1.50 is the perfect engine on this plane. At my altitude it is NOT overpowered. Hovers at around 75% throttle with the 16x8. It's a relatively new engine though so it's not broken in all the way. I'm hoping to improve on that with the 18x5 as well. The prop blast from the 16x8 really does make the ecstasy come alive.

One of the older gentleman at the field told me that boiling the nylon bolts for 10 minutes or so will make them stronger. Anyone ever hear of this?!

Kevin

Never heard of boiling the nylon bolts to make them stronger. You can heat treat steel (I an Engineer by education and profession - can you tell? <GRIN>). Heating a material up to a prescribed temperature and then allowing to cool slowly, as opposed to quenching, will aneal the material, though not all materials can be heat treated, i.e. nylon.

I have found that the black nylon bolts, as well as the black DuBro LG are brittle. If you really think about it, in order to get the black color you have to add the max. amount of pigment (as opposed to the other colors). This pigment obviously makes these components more brittle.

Needless to say, I haven't seen you damage to the bottom on your Ecstasy from the ashfault, but I sure as heck would not prefer to take out the LGB (landing gear block). though like I said I haven't seen the damage and I was not there (though l love to see this one fly! - I'd love to see all of them fly!<GRIN>)

I would think that the 18x5 would do better on your engine. Let us know how you make out!
Kevin

Flew my ecstasy yesterday, good weather here in Southern Indiana. Flight was going well till my on off switch failed and locked the controls. I was lucky again, it only tore out the gear and the bottom beek. Gear block is already glued back in and now just need about 1 more hour to cover the bottom beek and back in the air. It fell straight down from 25 feet, I do not know how it held together, must be that cyberbond glue and interlocking construction. Anyway, it will be ready tomorrow but I really think I may not get another chance to fly it till Houston because the weather here is going down hill. I think it will take longer to clean the mud out as to repair it. Jeff

I have heard of guys boiling the nylon gears in their servos to toughen up the nylon. (Remove from the servos first .. ha ha.) Not sure of the physics involved. I know nylon readily absorbs water during boiling, but it seems like it would just dry out afterwards.

RCMAN - any specific reason why you should remove the nylon gears from the servo before you boil them? <GRIN> This way you can clean the servo pot that the same time <LOL>

Jeff - You sure had your share of issues with your Ecstasy. I do not know what to say except - GOOD LUCK! <LOL> I hope it makes it to Huston and survives Huston!
Kevin

Kevin, no kidding. I hate to mess up a good flying airplane I like. Just some bad luck, that switch was in another fun fly but it will get a brand new one tomorrow. I guess I was due, in 12 years of using Airtronics components that was my first failure and that switch was salvaged from a crashed plane so probably not the best judgement. But hey blank happens. It will be ready for Houston and the weather is supposed to be better Tuesday and Wednesday so I should be able to fly it some before Houston.
Jeff

Jeff- I've made the same decision and regreted it too. You may want to test fly it in Houston <GRIN>. In other words, don't push your luck!<LOL>
Have a safe trip. After meeting Paul and Gator at Perry last week, I know you'll have a ball driving down - That's for sure!
Kevin