It's late January and I've found myself with the first bit of breathing room since mid-December (you know, job, family, holidays, etc). After a busy weekend, I realized that if I play just a bit of hookey today then I could have another two full days off and start building the 3DHS 103" Extra that showed up last month and so far had become just a really expensive stacking surface in my shop.

I've owned many smaller (and not so small) electrics and a few 50cc airplanes, but this is my first 100cc plane and I thought that I would share the build.

First off, why did I choose this plane as my first 100cc (or, in my case, 111cc) airplane?

Well, I admit, I've become a bit of a 3DHS fanboy and I'm not afraid to admit it. My first 3D airplane was the 47" Extra that I bought 3 years ago. I loved the plane and at the time it was just what I needed to go from flying circles followed by bad landings to actually learning how to fly. Since then, shortly after getting that airplane I got their 55" Extra and later built their 87" Extra as my first 50cc airplane. Along the way, I've become friends with the plane's designer, Scott Stoops, who lives near me and have been able to spend some time at a few fly-ins with Ben Fisher who, frankly, always astounds me with his lighting fast wit and rugged good looks.

So, there was no way I was going to buy a 100cc airplane and not buy it from these guys (at least for my first one) but I still looked around to see what else was out there and kept coming back to the 3DHS Extra as the obvious choice - it's a very true airframe that's hits the line between light weight construction and durability just right for my personal preferences. I loved the scale looks and the scale scheme - I loved my 3DHS 87" Extra (which had to be sold off to make this project happen) but I think that the 103" is a big improvement in both of the above over it's smaller brother. Value wise, I still think that it's one of the best - for $950 bucks you get a lot for your money - carbon fiber everywhere (gear, tailwheel, spar, tail spars, sleeves), ultra-cote scheme, great hardware, pre-ran servo extensions for elevator, pre-ran pull-pull wire, wing and stab bags, you name it - it's a pretty complete kit.

However, despite admitting to being friends with Scott Stoops and having a totally non-gay man-crush on Ben Fisher, I don't want you to think that I'm too biased - I payed full price for this plane and this build thread isn't meant to be an ad for them just like it's not meant to be a non-biased review - I just want to document my first 100cc build. Hopefully this when this one is done I can start working on my 100cc collection - I wouldn't mind also having an Aeroworks 100cc Edge, Extreme Flight 100cc Yak, and "The Beast" when it comes out!

Here's a few shots that I've taken of other peoples 330 SCs at my local field, I was starting to have some airplane envy showing up with my puny 50cc airplane!

I ran and picked this bad-boy up from the shipping company in Denver about a month ago (funny, I made a special trip because I didn't want to wait 3 more days for them to bring it all the way to my door but then couldn't get around to starting on it for a month!).

Anyway, I checked everything out, did the living room mock-up, put the cowl on my head, and then boxed it back up for when I had more time. I tearfully parted out and sold my 87" SHP and starting getting part together for this build.

I'll be using:

DLE-111 with stock mufflers
Hi-Tec 7955 servos on all surfaces except rudder, rudder will start with a single 7950
Hi-tec 645MG on throttle
Smart-Fly Power Expander Sport Plus for power distribution
JR 9303 2.4 Radio with their 9 channel receiver

I'll probably start using the A123's that I already have but I'm interested in experimenting with some unregulated li-pos so see what these servos can do at higher voltages!

Finally got everything out of the box and ready to go.

I'm really psyched - everything is in perfect condition and quality is fantastic through-out. Most holes are already opened in the covering, pull-pull wires and servos extensions are already in the fuse, and everything is hinged except for the rudder. I'm not quite sure why I've put this off for so long!

All the other surfaces were already done, so I started with the rudder.

I'm a Gorilla glue guy, so I grabbed the GG, some water, some vaseline and some cue tips and got to work. For those that haven't used the GG for hinges, it's easy and pretty darn mess free.

First, put vaseline on the hinge joints
Second, moisten each hole on both sides with a cue tip and some water
Third, squirt some Gorilla Glue straight from the bottle into all hole
Fourth, jam the rudder onto the fuselage
Fifth, clean up any over flow with a paper towel and some rubbing alcohol.

By the way, this is one long fuselage - firewall is on the floor in these photos, and plane is tilted back at an angle. I'm 6'4".

While the plane was on it's head after doing the hinges, I decided to pop the carbon fiber tailwheel onto the fuselage. Took three bolts with a little CA on each one - tiller went right into the pre-installed ball link on the rudder.

Main gear was easily installed - the carbon fiber gear attaches with four bolts and locking washers. Luckily I remembered seeing two shiny red cuffs taped to the inside of the box before I added the wheels so I went out to the garage to retrieve them.

After affixing them to the gear (holes are pre-drilled but needed to be enlarged - better yet, just use some self tapping screws instead of the included bolts as that would make it a lot easier to drill through the CF) and the cover to the gear (just used four drops of CA so make sure that it held but could be pulled off later), I added the wheels with their sweet rims and the wheel pants.

The wheel pants took a little dremel work to make them fit and, as usualy, there was one bolt that took me awhile to get lined up but I had the whole thing together in 25 minutes. It's always nice to get the fuselage up off the table first thing.

I went to the elevators next and quickly sunk two 7955's into their slots. I like the way they are designed, they are hidden away with arms protruding from the stab. Turn-buckle style linkages connect them to the control horns that I epoxied in.

I might need to remove the stab for transport so this seems pretty hassle free for set-up and tear down.

I'm using SWB servo arms that I had on my 87" SHP, hopefully they'll be long enough for full deflection.

I'm going to start with a single Hi-tec 7950 for the rudder and decided to put it in the pull-pull position. If it's not enough, I can always add a back-up but I've heard good reports about it working well as a single rudder servo on this size plane.

I epoxied the phenolic horns into the rudder and was once again quite pleased that the fuselage already had pull-pull wires running through it. Four pilot holes with a small drill bit and four screws later, the 7950 was installed and all of the cables were crimped. Easiest pull-pull I've ever done!

Well, that's all for now. The wife is home and a beer is cracked and we're ready for dinner. I started around 9 this morning and also found time to get a cars emissions tested, sell that car, go the bank with check from said car, wash other car, make a trip to target, take care of the fish tank, and waste lots of time on-line.

All said, it's probably only taken my 3 - 3.5 hours of actual plane time to get to this step.

Tomorrow I'll get the engine in and the plumbing done and start on the wings!

NICE! I am a big fan of this airframe. I look forward to the rest of your assembly and flight reports.

looks good!!!! i have started to check 3DHS frames for future 100cc project. Save money and use a wolverine switch for 2 A123 packs into rx...and you are ready to rock!!!.

Looks great Ryan! Can't wait to see it huckin on the deck!

Ryan, you rock bro nice build thread . Man o man you are gonna be-loving this plane, im still going to buy another, even though I already have one. This plane is so that good !!!!!!!!!!!!!! 3-D hobbyshop keep it coiming. How much longer till we fly'er ??????????????

Looking awesome Ryan! Can't wait to see you fly her!



Cory

Looks good!