Brick with Wings

[olgoat]

Hi Y'all,

I bought a used Extra 300 and it flys terrible. I met MikeC3D at Kingsbury TX last weekend and he said it's probably too heavy. After seeing his Yak and taking a good look at my Extra I think he's right. The Extra is 10+ years old, 82" wing span, G62 with C&H ignition and weights 19lbs.
I'm hoping for some advise to lightin the plane, presently it's very undisirable to fly. I've included some pics. The side of the plane is styrofoam over 3/16 ply. I've though of cutting lighting holes in the 3/16 ply that runs from the engine mount to the back of the canopy. Everything in back ot the canopy is sticks, no solid wood. Everyone feel welcome to chime in.

Lonnie

[pepatrick]

The G62 is like having a lead block up front. Its a great motor, but not a good motor for this type of plane. DA-50 or DL-50 will lighten the load quite a bit. I cant tell from the pictures, but also try using lighter batteries. A few ounces here and there will add up quckly and the brick will fly like a feather.

[bodywerks]

No joking here -convert the G62 to electronic ignition, or to a DA 50, and remove the airplane from it and install a newer, lighter, bigger, better-flying one.

[Peachey24]

I just crashed a "brick", decided it wasnt worth lightening it so bought a seagull superstar and fitted my crrc pro 26cc, hopefully it will regain my faith again!

[mighty9]

yea a lighter engine up front wont help a heavy airframe

[sensei]

You could get this down to 13 or 14 lbs, but your going to have to spend some coin, and a great deal of work...

Bob

[KrisW]

Okay, the G-62 is electronic, but it's still a heavy engine. .

Best bang for the buck to remove weight.

16 ounce tank, next to the wing tube
CF tube
CF Gear
CF Tailwheel assembly
One A123 battery pack, NiMH 1300 ma 4-cell for ignition
remove allthe covering and sand the bejeezus out of the sheeting, especially toward the ends of the wings and til pieces.
holes in the wing roots
lightening holes in the ailerons and elevators
do a diagonal sectioning of the rudder, like they do to the Daltons (look for pics)
drop in a DL-50
hole saw and section the underside of the hatch.
turn the outer 1/3 of the wing into "sheeted ribs" using a Dremel rotozip. use 4" separation, between the ribs and about 1" of sheeted foam at the trailing edge, and take the cutouts all the way to the spars, then shear web between the spars with 1/16" balsa sheet. do the same for the area between the wing root and up to 5" short of the wing tube end. That is all dead weight and pretty much non structural.
Do the wing treatment to the stabilizer for the outer 1/2 of it's length, with small square cutouts with rounded corners. Be conservative and don't take too much out.

Best of luck with the project. . all the parts I listed will tally close to $600, but with all this work you can shave 3-3.5 lbs if you are diligent.

[Twizlair]

olgoat,
hey Man congrats you got an IMAC classic, That is a precision model products 28%300s. It was designed in about 93 or so. That thing is meant to be around 16-19 pounds. We Len and I used to have them with converted glo motors in them. They fly fast land hard but roll and snap like no other plane around. Lighting holes in the fuse are ok but you will never get todays performance out that bird it all about PRECISION.
I sitll have two ready to paint and one in a box I plan on an EVOLUTION 50 for them and just pure precision. I am shooting for around 16.5-17#.
Jeramy

[krayzc]

sell it, chaulk up the loss and get a lighter set up bird from the start........

[rdgood]

Go with Krazcy's recomendation.

Ronster

[Ed Hornbuckle]

Bon Fire ... Bon Fire...

[mark nichols]

Just enjoy dont waste good money and a lot of it on a carbon wing tube and landing gear, then fanny about trying to loose wood and why put a da50 in that plane? save and buy a lite plane that comes with carbon and was meant to be lite, seems a good idea.


Just enjoy the plane you have...

Mark