Extra 330L from RC league

[linkadrip]

Well thought i would add some more pics to this thread. Have to get my gaps covered on the tail and wings. But it's ready to fly other then that.. Seems to be a rare bird only 3 people in the whole world own this plane. No flight reports or anything..

My very first plane can you imagine that. then i bought a trainer Well i sure do hope this planes second maiden flight goes alot better then its first did...

[B Rocka]

I don't know if this thread is still active or not, but it's definitely helped me a little in my build of this plane. Apparently I have the older version with the blue anodized wing tube, etc. I've been really taking my time on this one and making sure I'm doing everything right to prevent problems like some of you guys have run into. Either way, I'm actually pretty close to being finished. I just need to install the fuel tank and engine. I'll post some pics soon.

Here's the setup I'm using...

Engine: DL-50
Prop: Vess 22A (at least starting off with)
Servos: Hitec HS-5955TG on the Rudder, 2 Scanner R/C 9864 on Elevator, 2 Scanner R/C 9844 on Ailerons, and a Scanner R/C 9776 on Throttle.
Receiver: Spektrum AR6200
Rx Battery: Venom 3000mAh 6V NiMh
EI Battery: Venom 1600mAh 6V NiMh


Once again, I'll post some pics and more info on my mods that I've done along the way soon.

[linkadrip]

Everything looks good shouldnt have any problems. Looks like you got allthe good stuff for it So i wouldnt worry to much. I'm having radio glitching issues with mine have to change out the receiver. Still havent flown it again yet. Been fiddlin with all my other planes and flying them. But soon i'll try it again got the receiver just need to mount it and reprogram. got all my gaps recovered. Getting close too the second maiden.

Glad to see there are others that have this plane. The thread has been dead not very many have this one i dont think. But looks like your gonna have a great flying plane...

I have the first version of the plane as well with the Blue Anodized tube.. I bought the plane in 2005.

[B Rocka]

Yeah we actually had this plane in stock at East R/C, and I always had my eye on it. The color scheme just really grabbed my attention for some reason. Then I found out it was discontinued, and we only had one left. So I figured I'd better go ahead and grab it before it was too late, lol. I've been working on it off and on now for probably 4 months or so.

[linkadrip]

Yea i have seen it on the web site. The only place that was carrying the plane. I've been looking for parts for it. i need a new hatch cover, cockpit, Mine is warped. doesnt want to seat properly. but i can still put the screws in it and it will hold just doesn't line up very good..

It has a great color scheme. But i crashed mine So it is mismatched now but has alot of character. Gonna be a flashing mirror in the sky hope i dont get blinded..

I've had mine for 3 years now and only flew it once. But i run it every now and then. I'm sure once i get it back up in the air i'll be flying it as much as i do all my other planes.. I think i'm a little scared cause i put so much work into rebuilding it i dont want to crash it again. But it has to be done...

Only thing that stopped me lately was the Glitching issue i had last time i ran the plane. Servos all wiggin out and thottle had a mind of its own. Hopefully the new receiver will eliminate that.

[B Rocka]

Some of the mods I've done already that I can think of off the top of my head are:

1) I put the aluminum wing tube on a lathe and sanded off all the anodized stuff so it would fit better, although I plan to order a carbon fiber wing tube soon.

2) I immediately threw out the hardware that came with it and am using the "ERC Premium Giant Scale Hardware Kit" which is what most of our giant scale planes come with. It's all really nice, heavy duty anodized aluminum horns, with ball links and all. I'm also using matching aluminum servo arms on all the servos. Which I shouldn't have to worry about anything stripping out. The rudder servo has a titanium gear and is 333 oz./in. of torque! The elevator servos are metal gear and 142 oz./in. of torque, and the aileron servos are metal gear and 116 oz./in. of torque!

3) I thought I'd have a problem with ground clearance for my prop, so to help out, I threw out the wheels and put on some 3-1/2" Hangar 9 Pro-Lite wheels.

4) To go with the bigger wheels, I'm using some bigger wheel pants that were originally for a Graupner Taxi 2400. I matched the paint to the old ones and painted the new ones the same color. They actually look more scale than the ones that came with it.

5) Using a 50cc gasser, I didn't think the included fuel tank was big enough, nor was it the greatest quality. So I got a bigger and better tank to put in. I don't remember right off hand exactly how big it is, but it's considerably bigger. So I should get some pretty good flight times out of this thing.

6) Of course, the very first thing I did was go over every single joint I could get to with CA.

Now, once I get the engine installed, I'm gonna completely close in the motor box and beef it up even more. Then I'm considering painting it with some finishing resin to make it stronger.

[linkadrip]

Sounds Great i Should have saved up and put better gear and hardware. i epoxied all the joints i could find in it and the engine Box is epoxied. the wings are way stronger then the were Since i fixed them. I'm gonna fly it..Here real soon i changed my radio system and receiver.

But i found out what the glitch was. it was the remote kill switch sending ignition impulses to the the receiver. So i took it out . Now i run it and no problems. So i'm gonna fly it if it flys good which i'm sure it will i'll more then likely upgrade the gear to better Stuff.

HAve to check out that "ERC Premium Giant Scale Hardware Kit" Sounds great.

I know in the future wehn i build another Giant gasser i'm going to Do things alot different.. It has been a great plane for a first gasser and of all thing my first Arf airplane. Waiting for the weather to clear then i'm gonna maiden it again.

I had to do a weird program with my radio for the dual Elevator Seem to be ok. its call ailievon or somthing simular to that. its an Hitec optic 6 Radio i'm using. But with this programming the elevator moves with the ailerons. And they move up and down as normal. but i set them to 0% So they wont move with the Ailerons. and it functions as a normal plane. but i can put percentage back in then they move with Ailerons Right aileron up right Elvator Up ect. The manual says its for torque rolls or Doing Rolling Harriers, not to sure about this. so i just set it up to fly normal for now.. May try it out after it has been test flown a couple times..

I'm defiently going to get some better wheels for it and some New wheel pants since the origianl ones got destoryed..

[linkadrip]

I've been looking at Carbon fiber tubes and landing gear for this plane. Was wondering if anyone knows the size of the Tube to get?

http://www.carbonfibertubeshop.com//index2.html




The carbon fiber landing gear i was looking at ..

#193 Great Planes Patty 1/4 Extra Version 4D

8" Base / 8-1/2" Total Height / 20-1/4" Spread / 2" to 1-1/16"

[B Rocka]

You might want to be careful with the elevon thing. Normally you can mix two channels and set a master and a slave, so that the slave follows whatever the master does. Elevons are normally for delta wings and stuff, so that the same control surfaces act as the ailerons and the elvator. Although I could see it helping out for some 3D, but I'd be scared to mess with it. But if they absolutely do not move at all when you move the ailerons, then I guess it would probably be fine.

[linkadrip]

Heres the manual for the radio i'm using..
http://www.hitecrcd.com/product_file...c_Manual_2.pdf

Goto Page 20. Its called AILV-AILEVATOR FUNCTION. I had no choice but to use this function for dual elevator servos. I guess i could put a Y Connector in and connect them to the elevator channel that way too. I didnt consider that. Plus i dont have an y connectors.. Gonna have to get some for such things as this. thats how i have the ailerons connected with a y connector on channel 1.

But i set my pecentages down on the slave channels to 0 So they wouldnt move with the Ailerons. So it appears to be Functioning normal the master is channel 1 Airlerons and the slaves are channels 2 & 5. I would have used my Airtronics 8 channel radio but dont have a crystal for the receiver. So i just figured i could use the Optic 6.. Should be fine i'm hoping.. Then after i get confident a little i might try giving the slave channels like 5 percent just to see what happen's maybe.

When you get a crabon fiber tube for your extra let me know what size you got. I dont want to make a mistake and get the wrong size..

[B Rocka]

Well if it's functioning right, that's all that matters.

I'll definitely let ya know on the wing tube size. I'm not even sure yet myself. Like I said, I had to sand the blue off of my aluminum one just so it would fit, and it's even still a little tight.

[linkadrip]

Well i flew the plane today lots of power flys great no problems except my CG is to far back and it was very Squirly. So i'm gonna have to search through this thread and hopefully find the correct CG location. Doesnt make any scence really all my gear is as far foward as i can get it and i filled the tank but the tank is small too.

Was a very hairy take off. At least my engine has plenty of power. Landing wasn't so great broke the tail gear it snapped on landing damaged the bottom of the rudder a little. I landed tail first But that was due to the cg being to far back it was very difficult to slow down without tip stalling also i'm thinking due to the cg.

Well nothing on CG here Looks like i'm gonaa have to do some math to find the correct location ah i'm so rusty at that. Cant find the manual for it not even sure it said what the CG is suppose to be. Maybe i can find the web site again. and send an email. and get it.. Hmmm Anyone know the CG that is correct let me know will really appriciate it. i would asy what mine is but i forgot so have to check it. but one thing is certain it is definetly to far back..

Was thinking of using the CG location of the Great planes 27% Extra 330L roughly simular in size.

http://manuals.hobbico.com/gpm/gpma1413-manual.pdf

[B Rocka]

Man....I had already thought about upgrading the tail wheel, cuz if it's the same as mine, it definitely seems like it wouldn't take much. I might just have to go ahead and do that.

As for the CG, the manual says 148mm from the leading edge of the wing. That would be about 5-7/8".

Hey, what engine are you running again?

[exciter900rr]

Just saw this thread, and have to ask, how was the visibility with the chrome wings? I did a sloper up in this manner, and almost lost it! seems like it makes the plane invisible!!!

I was gonna suggest doing some graphics on the wing to aid visibility before your re-maiden, but it looks as if you did fine! congrats on the rebuild/maiden!!!

	Quote: Originally Posted by linkadrip
	Well i flew the plane today lots of power flys great no problems except my CG is to far back and it was very Squirly. So i'm gonna have to search through this thread and hopefully find the correct CG location. Doesnt make any scence really all my gear is as far foward as i can get it and i filled the tank but the tank is small too. Was a very hairy take off. At least my engine has plenty of power. Landing wasn't so great broke the tail gear it snapped on landing damaged the bottom of the rudder a little. I landed tail first But that was due to the cg being to far back it was very difficult to slow down without tip stalling also i'm thinking due to the cg. Well nothing on CG here Looks like i'm gonaa have to do some math to find the correct location ah i'm so rusty at that. Cant find the manual for it not even sure it said what the CG is suppose to be. Maybe i can find the web site again. and send an email. and get it.. Hmmm Anyone know the CG that is correct let me know will really appriciate it. i would asy what mine is but i forgot so have to check it. but one thing is certain it is definetly to far back.. Was thinking of using the CG location of the Great planes 27% Extra 330L roughly simular in size. http://manuals.hobbico.com/gpm/gpma1413-manual.pdf

[linkadrip]

Running a Crrcpro GFI 45I engine. it came with the plane was part of the combo there are pictures of it. on page 3 or 4 in this thread its red. My Cg is way back there somewere i didnt even try to find out what it was, i set my CG machine at 5 1/4" And put 2 Lbs 8 oz of bolts and nuts setting on top of the engine to get it to balance out. Well that's what the bolts weighed after i took them off the top of the engine. plane Cg is checked upside down so the engine was upright.

So i'm now taking the Stoormtrooper pilot out of the plane. i'm thinkin he weighs a few ounces at least and that will help get the cg foward. i'm pretty Certain my Cg is somewere in between 6 or 7 inches its amazing the plane even flew. I flew around with the engine mainly.

I replaced my tail wheel with this

http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...5&I=LXLKN8&P=K

I purchased 4 of them and this was the last one and it is alot more durable then that plastic junky one that was on there. I have them on 2 other planes with no problems.

So i'm going to redo my Canopy it wasnt fitting correctly anyway. Was intresting to fly with chrome wings. the Wings are like mirrors i was flying over the runway and they changed to the Color of the run way. In a turn they flash pretty brightly i'm sure you can see this plane flying from 20 miles away. Was fun and it came home so now i'm jazzed about getting the CG Right and flying again..

But since i havent set my Cg yet i'll go with the 5 7/8" 148mm i'm sure that will be easier to acheive then 5 1/4 maybe set it in between the two 5 1/2" First i'll try the recomended CC then if it stll flys tail heavy i'll got a 1/2 and then 1/4 if its still squirley.