Hey All,
I've been mooching of everyone else's reviews and thought time to pass it on.
Having had a look I couldn't see any Builds on this aircraft much to my disappointment so I figured I'd do a short one.
After the demise of Dads much loved SD 30% Extra 260 (rudder cable snapped on base leg) we were in the market for a cost effective replacement.
We came across the EG Aircraft 33% Extra 260 hanging in the roof of our LHS
www.monaromodels.com.au for the quaint price of $1299 which was about $100 cheaper that the RRP which is $1399 (the other LHS). After negotiating a deal I picked it up a couple of days later. My first preference was to get Dad into a H9 35% Extra 260 (I was silly and sold mine) but here in Aust you simply cant get them anywhere...
I built a H9 35% 260 some 12 months ago and in my opinion it will be tough (near impossible) for this one to beat it for Inc Hardware, % Complete, Ease of Construction, Flight Performance and Looks.
I built this one for my Dad who wants to do some Basic IMAC with it and I don't think he likes me doing crazy low Freestyle with my 3mtr Compy 260 so it will hopefully double as my Freestyle practice hack... I mean plane, sorry dad.... So I wanted something that would be a good 3D Machine and at the same time be "capable" to flying straight lines for Basic Class IMAC.
After popping the lid to the box I was presently surprised at the finish, build quality all round looks great, no visible signs of needing Glue!! Being a film ARF it needed the usual shrinking to tidy it up and I was told in the shop that it was covered in Ultracote (Magic Stuff) so was not at all alarmed. However as soon as I fired up the Heat gun I realised this is no Ultracote its a variation of China Cote, there is no warning that its about to disappear unlike Ultracote which changes colour a couple of times. No to worry I carefully ironed down all the edges and hit it with the heat gun and it all worked out fine this must be the better china cote OraCover or something.
So out of the box I gave it a good look over for structural design and "hand test" and it past with flying colours. In some ways the construction is better than the H9 as it feels much stronger and the same design in that there is lots of plastic showing inside. The fuse and wings have carbon stringers through out which is a nice touch and seams to make a difference. All the parts interlock and the fit is great. Unlike my Canopy Frame on my 260 which needed a little sanding and fitting to sit just right.
The canopy install is almost the same as the way the H9 is done and leaves a nice finish. I much prefer this method to the plain old clear plastic screw on method that you get with cheaper kits.
The H9 comes out of the box with the Cowl installed and the EG does not. The Eg requires the holes to be drilled to match the pre-installed blind nuts which is abit crappy as its a **** job that can be done in the factory, its easy to mess up - not that I did as I used the masking tape and careful measurement method
The Inc Hardware is all more that adequate for the job - not as flashy as the H9 stuff but still very nice, the Servo Arm Extensions are Aluminum and the Horns are the same style as you get with Composite Arfs, all the Ball links and Titanium Turn Buckles are supplied in the kit which is a nice touch. I used all the supplied hardware except the servo arms, I like to use the Hitec HD Glass arms as 1. they are free with the extremely expensive servos and they are a good length to maintain resolution and the torque of the servo. I have used Hitec 5955 Servos through out and 7955's on the elevators. I program all my Servos on the Hitec Servo Programmer prior to install.
The build was rocking along UNTIL I came to the undercarriage (which I do later as I build on a bench). I spent some hours trying to get what I though was the holes to line up - NOTE: they are all pre-drilled 4 holes for each leg. They are quite deep in the fuse and so hard to line up with a long screw driver. I got 2 of the 8 to take up after 2 hours of sweat and swear words. I shun a light down the wholes and frustratingly they lined up perfect. I pushed a bit harder on one and the blind nut came away inside the sealed compartment S&%* !!!! I moved on to the Canister install to see if when I removed some covering for the tunnel weather I would then have access to the blind nuts, THANK GOD.. I did the nut feel out on to the floor. Imagine my frustration when I realised that the blind nut was THE WRONG SIZE FOR THE SUPPLIED BOLTS!!!!! Mother....
Time for a break..
When I came back to it the next week, I punched all the blind nuts that would not take up out and replaced them with the correct M4 Blind nuts. This was a tricky task as the blind nuts are located in a very tricky place. ANYWAY once done they all lined up and bolted up fine.
The undercart is really nicely finished and has a great aerofoil look, its also very stiff and high meaning ground clearance will be no trouble at all.
The supplied wheels/axles/pants all go on very easy and seam strong, our grass strip will soon sort out if they are up to the task.
No issues at all installing the Servos the dropped right in and there was plenty of clearance in the std arm cut outs for the thick Hitec glass arms.
I Installed the Engine (3W 80xi) and Canister from Ernie (Thanks Ernie) which was a perfect fit for the built in canister tunnel and there was just enough clearance for a silicon joiner to protect and hold the canister inplace. The Kit comes with 2 engine templates which fit snug on the firewall to show where to drill the mounting holes and what hole to cut for the carby to clear the firewall. There is one for a DA85 and one for a 3W85, it happens that the 3W80 an 85 are the same so this was useful. No engine bolts were provided (unlike the H9).
The cowl went on well after I drilled the cowl to suit the pre-installed blind nuts (that were the right size this time). The cowl has a much nicer shape than the H9 one which I think is ... rather Bland..
Due to some rather crappy issues with our 3W 80xi I have not yet been able to Maiden the EG Aircraft Extra 260, but I hope to have these issues sorted very soon and the Maiden in the next week or so. SHOULD HAVE BOUGHT A DA !!!
Over all I am really looking forward to flying the EG Aircraft Extra 260 it looks great and if it fly's half as good I will be very happy, seeing as though we cant get H9's here any more.
Below are some pics I hope this was Helpful to some of you.
Stirlo.