Dietrich 50cc Extra 260

[catman3070]

My Extra just arrived today and first impression, is what a nice job Kevin has done on this plane. Everything from the way it's build to the packaging for shipment is A+.

It arrived in 3 boxes....Box 1 cowl/landing gear covers #2 body/elevator halves/landing gear/hardware #3 wings/rudder assembly/wing tubes....Everything was double boxed (not the cheap cardboard), wing box was lined with foam, everything was secured with tape...(I think they used the whole roll as it took forever to get the pieces out )

Once out for inspection no wrinkles or spots where covering not ironed correctly. Glue appears to be of good quality, not the hot glue a lot of manufacturers are using. Foam sheeted bottom is a nice touch. Elevator servos in the horizontal stab, not the fuse. All hinges pre glued (again good quality glue), and pass the 10 - 15 lbs pull test. Canopy pre mounted with dash panel already installed. Comes with template for mounting DA or 3W. Hardware good quality not cheap crap. Extra pieces of covering for that hanger damage.

All faults I can see. #1 front of canopy doesn't have a lip to allow good glue contact area. #2 wish it was pre manufactured to accept canister muffler (it will not be a difficult task to install, just prefer prefabrication).

Overall kit is built very light with strength in the needed areas. Should be very easy for this aircraft to hit 16 - 17 lbs.....

http://www.dietrichaircraft.com/


Chane

[catman3070]

I got my plane out to fly today. Got 3 flights on it before I had a throttle servo quit. After the first flight, I moved the battery back to make the CG about 3/4 inch further back. At this point the plane flies much more the way I am use to, but still doesn't fly as though it is tail heavy. Needs about 6 -8 percent coupling on elevator/aileron for knife edge. With a DA 50/canister muffler set up, the plane will do anything you want it to. I actually had it doing a climbing inverted flat spin on the first flight at recommended CG. High rate rudder needs to be increased to allow for a high alpha knife edge.

Very disappointed in the covering though. I thought the covering would be more like Ultracote, but found its more like Monokote. If I would have know this before I would have spent a little more time with the heat gun. I had went over all the seams with an iron, but once it got hot the wings began to bubble and actual covering began to lift off. I had to do the trusty field repair and scotch tape the edges to keep it from coming off. When I tried to heat it up to reattach the covering takes more heat to shrink, so you have to be careful around the edges so it doesn't shrink to much.

If I was to purchase another 50 cc plane, I would buy another one of these.

[JimC-MD]

I maidened mine today as well. Hope to have video to upload soon. Just a first trim flight on a DA that I am still breaking in so nothing spectacular, but still.

As far as the covering goes. Kevin does tell you to go over it will with an iron and I did so. I had mine out in bright sunshine today near 80 degrees and it still looks pristine. Yes, it is a higher heat covering.

[catman3070]

	Quote: Originally Posted by JimC-MD
	I maidened mine today as well. Hope to have video to upload soon. Just a first trim flight on a DA that I am still breaking in so nothing spectacular, but still. As far as the covering goes. Kevin does tell you to go over it will with an iron and I did so. I had mine out in bright sunshine today near 80 degrees and it still looks pristine. Yes, it is a higher heat covering.

I would have had pics of today's flight, but after searching the house for 1 hour for MY camera. I found that my wife had used it and took the pictures to be developed. Apparently she doesn't understand that all you have to take is the memory stick with the pictures you want to developed.

[bodywerks]

I have never, and I mean NEVER had an ARF that didn't require going over the ENTIRE thing with an iron and heat gun to really set it. That is why it is a step in darn-near every manual. It's usually the first step, but I hold it for last, as that gives the kit some time to acclimate itself and do what it's going to do. I even put it out in the sun and do my engine runs, range checks, and such to get it out in the sun for a bit so the wrinkles will reveal themselves - and they ALWAYS do!
I see a lot of "I opened the box and saw not one wrinkle" comments...so what. You will have wrinkles eventually. Wood dries and shrinks, and covering loosens up a bit when first put out in the sun. No wood ARF is immune...
I don't know if the lifting leading edges is a fault of the way it was covered, or if you just didn't use enough heat. If the seam is not overlapping another piece of covering by at least 3/16 inch, or if the leading edge seams are right at the front of the leading edges, then it is a manufacturer's flaw. Still, so long as there is enough overlap, the covering should stay put, but it takes about 375 degrees on the iron (if you have a hotsock, which you should), slow movement of the iron (about 1-2 inches per second), and a decent amount of pressure to get it really stuck down. I do this on all LE, TE, overlap, and corner and bevel seams. With the rest of the plane, I just fold up a cotton tee-shirt and use it press down areas that I heat up with a heat gun.

[catman3070]

I had went over all the seams with a iron set on high. I should have been a little more specific on which ones were lifting. It was the black pin stripe on the yellow. When the black started to bubble it worked the bubbles to the edges. This is my fault for not taking a heat gun to everything prior. I usually wait to hit it with a heat gun until after I have had it out in the sun for awhile. What was kind of nice about it though, the black got hot enough sitting in the sun. All I had to do to most of it was go over it with a soft rag.

As I said above "not going over it with a heat gun is my fault". However what I stated prior, I don't like the covering because it acts more like monokote than ultracote. I can't hardly cover a flat piece 1" by 1" square with monokote without screwing something up!

[bodywerks]

Yeah, black is a royal PITA, too!