Tired Old Man

My Feedback: (1)

For those of you that are anxiously awaiting the arrival of your new 28% Wild Hare, and are climbing the walls in anticipation, there are a few things you can do to get ready before it arrives.

Go to the hardware store and pick up a bottle of Pro Bond Ultimate or Gorilla glue. It's the best stuff for the job. Also pick up a quart or so of acetone for clean up.

Order or obtain (4) 2-1/2" or 3" 10/32 cap screws from Micro Fastener or whomever. When you do that, order any extra nuts, bolts, srews, and washers that you need to stock up on for other projects. Also get some 10/32 blind nuts.

You will need one 18" servo extension for each servo mounted in the tail. You will also need at least a 12" extension for each aileron servo. Allow for an 18" extension for the throttle and choke servo if you are going to use one. A 12" extension will be the minimum length required for the throttle and choke.

Go to the fabric store and pick up about 4 feet of 1" wide velcro strips. That should be way too much, but you will have it on hand later.

Pick up a switch for each battery pack to be used. Get good ones.

Look to SWB or Air Wild for (5) 1-1/2" servo arms for the servos you will be using. You're going to need them. Avoid the plastic arms for good peace of mind. If you already have new servos you are goint to use, run them for awhile to assure that they are in good working order and are not going to fail in the first hour of flight. That's when they will usually go if they are going to.

Order or line up a surface defelection gauge. It helps a lot. So will an incidence meter so you can check all your angles. You should do this on any plane you build or assemble, anyway.

Take some time and read all the posts in the Wild Hare Forum for assembly information. There is NOTHING that has not already been covered here. Wild Hare is the only manufacturer that provides this kind of support for their products. Take advantage of the accumulated experience and knowledge that has already been posted.

Doing all the above will have you just about as ready as you can be when your new plane arrives. It doesn't take very long at all to get it assembled and in the air if you already have all that you will need.

I hope you all have as much or more enjoyment from your Wild Hares' as I have had so far. You will not be dissapointed.

Tired Old Man

My Feedback: (1)

An addendum to the above regarding servo arms.

If you are going to use a pull/pull set up, you will need to order a 1-1/2" double servo arm for your servos.

If you are using JR servos, JR makes a 1-1/2 gold colored aluminum servo arm that's as good as any from SWB or Air Wild. They are also usually available over the counter at your local JR dealer.

For those new to larger planes, the surface throws provided in the directions for the 28% Wild Hare planes are just right for your first flights. So is the center of gravity range. You won't need any more for good performance. Take the time to get to know the plane before you get crazy with it and bear in mind that the larger planes fly and react differently than smaller, lighter planes. You will have to also.

Shogun

My Feedback: (2)

All great advice but I would like to add a bit from my experience as well.

Add a bottle of blue loctite to your shopping list. When you get the plane and start assembly loctite EVERYTHING that has machine threads because they WILL loosen up and fall out if you don't.

If you have the hardware pack coming then you will be way ahead of the guys that decided to make 15 trips to the LHS to get all their stuff. ALL of the hardware is GOOD and usable, except the tail wheel. Don't waste your time using it as they are only good for about 3 landings if you fly off of a rough field, asphalt may be a different story but I can't speak to that experience.

If your going to be using a DA 50 bear in mind that this plane WILL balance tail heavy unless you take some steps to prevent it from the beginning. Remember that tail wheel assy I just mentioned? You got it, the replacement needs to be as light as possible, think carbon fiber with a foam tire.

If you are planning on using a 5735 jumbo servo for the rudder it might be a good idea to go ahead and mount it in the forward servo cutout in the tray instead of in the rear one. If your using an 8611 put it in the rear hole it will work fine there.

DO NOT fly this plane tail heavy on the maiden flight! Mine was and it caught me off guard on the landing and I have experience with tail heavy planes and usually this presents no problems. Bigger planes DO fly differently and you will need some time to get used to this one if it's your first big plane.

My setup came out tail heavy and now is right at 5!QUOT! which is the rearmost recommended balance point, the Edge flies GREAT here.

Check the incidences with a meter like SS said. Mine were 1.5 degrees positive which made the plane want to dive and took 6 clicks of up trim to compensate. Simply loosening the screws that hold the stabs in place allows for enough play to position them were they need to be at zero degrees. Re-tighten the screws and they will NOT move while flying.

For decent 3D I found that at least 40 degrees of elevator throw was needed. If you build it per the manual using the Sullivan clevises you can only get about 33 degrees of down throw before the linkages bind. To get past this go with the SWB arms like SS said and use 4-40 ball links with them. I went with the 1.25 arms to retain as much toque as possible while getting the necessary throws.

To get the proper geometry on the rudder pull-pull set up you will need a 3 inch armon the servo, get SWB's since you can put the ball links on top with 4-40 screws which prevents contact with the servo case at max throw. Do NOT cross the wires going to the rudder since they will rub on the front of the fuse slots and cut into the fuse. Use of the Du-Bro double horn on the rudder works great IF you make one minor modification. As supplied the horn !QUOT!arms!QUOT! will place the pivot point ahead of the hinge line which will result in uneven tension in the setup, re-drill the holes for the pivot and cut off and round the !QUOT!arms!QUOT! so that everything fits back together and works without binding. The goal of all of this is to get the aluminum pins directly on the rudder hinge line so everything will work smoothly.

Nogyro

My Feedback: (10)

Funny, I've got 150 flights on my stock tail wheel and it still looks like new. All my flying is off fescue and ruff crab grass. 15 flights or so off asphalt...............No complaints here, other than I just don't get to fly it enough!

Shogun

My Feedback: (2)

My first landing was a bit hair raising but it didn't come down hard at all, after that 2 more that were soft as a feather and the pivot bearing broke loose from the spring. I tried to bend it back and thought I might be able to resolder it but the spring broke right across the width where the bearing mounted too it.

I have read of other guys having issues with the tailwheels supplied in the hardware pack so it didn't surprise me when mine went south.

RCNUTKNOY

My Feedback: (2)

Sorry to hear about your problems with the stock tail wheel..I have dozens of flights on my Edge flying off a paved runway(and often off grass when the "wind" is across the runway) and have had no problems with the tail wheel.

I would suggest that problems can arise, but with 200 or 300 of these Edges in service by now as well as the Extra series, from what I have read on this site, seems to be a very small percentage of problems with the tail wheel.

Point is for those considering the hardware pack, it is a good one. Do not be afraid of it. Tom has his stuff together. If there is a problem with any facet of this investment, Tom will be more than fair in dealing with your concerns.

In this forum we get an incredible cross section of pilots that have nothing but praise for this series of models..that praise is well earned..Tom has a great product. Try his hardware kit, you will not be disappointed.

RCNUT

Tired Old Man

My Feedback: (1)

A little extra.

If you can find the green Locktite, use it instead of the blue on all the metric (4mm) hardware. It doesn't set as thick as the blue.

As far as the tail wheel goes, flying off pavement with good landings and it holds up rather well. Tail slamming will break the tail wheel assembly. But it will break a Dave Patrick tail wheel also. The plane lands slow and soft, so there's no need to drive it onto the ground at high speeds.

The net weight savings going with a C/F tail wheel assembly on this size plane isn't, IMO, worth the time, cash, and effort. Better to balance by moving components around a little.

rctom

First, the tailwheel assembly comes with the plane and is not part of the hardware kit, I would never ask someone to pay extra for it, it's just not that kind of top quality assembly. It's OK, but not great.

I would have to add that problems with the tailwheel on this plane are mainly because of manufacturing differences rather than a design issue.

On most of the 28% planes tha tailwheel holds up fine, I have had no problems with them myself in many dozens of flights off grass which tends to beat up the tailwheel. I do normally replace the wheel itself with sometthing more substantion, that costs $2 at the hobby shop.

What I do see though is a greater than normal occurence of failures that seem to be because of manufacturing defects. The sprong leaf breahs, the little bearing pulls loose, stuff like that. I think they make these things about 10,000 at a time and there are some mistakes made.

So what I'm saying is if you have a tailwheel failure early in the life of your 28% Wld Hare plane call me and I'll send a new one.

One final note, that tailwheel assembly is totally inadequate for our 35% Extra and is marginal on the Giles. IF you are building a $4,000 plane you should go spend a few bucks on a heavy duty tailwheel.

TF

flier

My Feedback: (7)

AMEN to that Tom.
I have used the TNT carbon tail wheel on the 28% size Wild Hares with very good results.
For my 36% 330LX, I went with the RCBlimp heavy tail wheel setup, also with good results.
The weight not being the issue, but rather the usage / dependability of the hardware selected.
As its been said many times before, each pilot has there own flavor for the hardware used.
Fly what you believe in and the fun will be there!

Shogun

My Feedback: (2)

Thanks Tom, I really like the plane and pretty much everything having to do with it but the tailwheel was a VERY minor gripe.

The issue of weight is only going to be an issue if guys go out and buy some of the readily available tailwheels on the market that are heavy, quite a few of them are. I just wanted to warm guys to be aware of the issue.

fiveoboy01

My Feedback: (3)

Excellent list guys.

While I'm waiting for my Edge to arrive this coming week, I'm going to make a trip to the LHS and knock out some of this list I've compiled.

I can't agree more with Silver - this forum has TONS of info. Anyone building one of these for the first time should sit down for a few hours and do some reading. I've read nearly EVERY thread in this forum. That and reading the manual online, I am already familliar with the assembly process before starting. No one should be afraid to ask questions, but you can also learn a TON by doing some searching around.

aj and phoenix

My Feedback: (2)

[quote]ORIGINAL: Silversurfer
Look to SWB or Air Wild for (5) 1-1/2" servo arms for the servos you will be using. You're going to need them.

SS, Why (5) 1-1/2" arms? 2 for Ailerons, 2 for elevators then what is the other for?

fiveoboy01

My Feedback: (3)

I believe that Silver means you'll need a 5th if you are mounting the rudder servo in the tail??

Otherwise I understand you need a 1.5" double servo arm(or 3" total) if going with a pull-pull for the rudder.

FWIW, I remember Tom saying something to the effect that the Airwild Servo arms do not fit as tight as they should on an 8611, something to think about if you're using one for the rudder. Apparently the SWB arms are a better fit on the output shaft.

I am thinking about using Central Hobbies' Carbon pushrods with titanium ends for my Edge. Would this be a good improvement over what is included in the hardware kit, or are they not necessary??

Come on Thursday, hurry up

rctom

Our hardware kit pushrods use a full-length 4-40 all-thread pushrod instead of glued in ends.

It seems to me that the glue-in ends can come out under enough force, the threaded rods cannot.

I believe our rods are stronger in both push and pull, the other ones will save you a couple grams weight.

TF

Shogun

My Feedback: (2)

don't bother with the Central Hobbies pushrods on this plane. The items in the hardware kit are more than adequate.

As far as weight goes the CH stuff would yeild a much greater benefit on smaller planes like profiles or something like a funtana.