Godfrey 40% Extra 300

[GoldenEagle]

I'd like to show off my new IMAC airplane for this season. The Godfrey has been flying for a couple of months now and it just seems to amaze me every time I go up. It is so neutral and forgiving that the first twenty flights or so were needed to just retrain my ham-thumbed inputs learned from flying lesser designs. Mark Leseburg has proved many times already with this airframe that Robert Godfrey has produced a design that is a world class champ for precision aerobatics. It just blows me away at how much easier it is to perform my IMAC routine with an airplane this good. Now I have to bring my game up to the level of the airframe.

Here's the specs:
125" wingspan, 120" long, about 2700 s.i. area
DA150 with KS 1080 tined pipes
Mejzlik 28x12W three blade
Futaba 14MZ control
JR 8611A servos (6 ail., 4 elev., 3 rud.)
37 lbs. 10 oz. (without pilot bust)

I'll continue with some build photos and detailed description of my Extra soon. Or you can contact me if you have specific questions about the Godfrey Extra. I'll also be at the Joe Nall Fly-In with the Godfrey and some of my other airplanes.

Chris

Chris

[ouch!]

Wow dude, awesome freaking scheme! All vinyl?

[TheTank]

Nice bird! Cant wait to see it at the Nall in person!

[GoldenEagle]

Thanks guys. The scheme's all Ultracote except for the eagle on the cowling - that's hand cut vinyl.

[JeeUm]

Chris, all I can say is nice,nice, nice. BTW, are you the Golden Eagle Aircraft guy that produces that profile airplane?

[forgues research]

	Quote: Originally Posted by GoldenEagle
	I'd like to show off my new IMAC airplane for this season. The Godfrey has been flying for a couple of months now and it just seems to amaze me every time I go up. It is so neutral and forgiving that the first twenty flights or so were needed to just retrain my ham-thumbed inputs learned from flying lesser designs. Mark Leseburg has proved many times already with this airframe that Robert Godfrey has produced a design that is a world class champ for precision aerobatics. It just blows me away at how much easier it is to perform my IMAC routine with an airplane this good. Now I have to bring my game up to the level of the airframe. Here's the specs: 125" wingspan, 120" long, about 2700 s.i. area DA150 with KS 1080 tined pipes Mejzlik 28x12W three blade Futaba 14MZ control JR 8611A servos (6 ail., 4 elev., 3 rud.) 37 lbs. 10 oz. (without pilot bust) I'll continue with some build photos and detailed description of my Extra soon. Or you can contact me if you have specific questions about the Godfrey Extra. I'll also be at the Joe Nall Fly-In with the Godfrey and some of my other airplanes. Chris Chris

Hey Chris,
I've built a Godfrey Extra some years ago and it was a super aircraft. But I didn't know he was still producing these, is he still going on,

BTW,,, Nice airplane , but I guess you already know that

Regards
Roger

[GoldenEagle]

Thanks, JeeUm!

Yeah I'm that guy. My apologies to Robert since I want this to be about his airplane, but, I'm not above a shameless plug for my own stuff. Here's a shot of my toys at the field recently: A customer's Talon with the Evo 35 gasser on a tuned pipe (love those pipes!), my DA50 powered Talon (a "customized" version of this will be at Joe Nall), and the Godfrey Extra 300. We had a ball that day with the Talons flying formation knife edge passes and other nonsense.
www.goldeneagleaircraft.com

Thanks again,
Chris

[GoldenEagle]

Oops, forgot the upload. Only on my second cup of coffee by now. Here ya' go:

[GoldenEagle]

Hi Roger,
Yeah, Robert Godfrey is very much still around and is producing the Extra 300 kits. His website is http://www.bobflies.com/ and he tells me that he is in the process of getting it updated with his latest designs. Robert can be reached at 941-729-2971 and he can provide the straight kit or a build-up to ARC level. The quality is excellent and you'll have the genuine article, not one of the other "me-too" Extra 300's popping up recently. Here is a photo of the Extra as I received it from Robert:

[GoldenEagle]

Ok, while I'm at it, I'll toss out some photos of the engine and pipe installation:

First is a shot of the tuned pipes being fitted. A 1/32" plywood floor was added to separate the pipe tunnel from the rest of the fuselage interior. Aren't those muthers bad?! The sound in the air with these and that wide, three-blade prop is something like a turboprop. To have an airplane this big going upstairs without any deceleration is well worth the extra cost.

Next is the firewall shot. Glued, screwed and tattooed! Robert provides for two laminated 1/4" lite-ply firewall pieces which I reinforced with a 1/16" aircraft ply "cookie" on both sides of each engine bolt hole. 1" x 1/16" alum. angles let me sleep better.

The last photo is the engine baffling. Cool running here folks. I designed the baffles to work very much like those used in full-scale aircraft. The air enters directly over the cylinders and is immediately pushed down through the fins and out the exit hole in the bottom of the cowling. Very little hot, dead air can get trapped in the back of the cowling and heat things up. The "scoop" at the front lower cowl is made from 1/32" ply and FG'd and faired into the cowl opening lip. The rear baffle is also 1/32" ply with balsa stiffeners on the back.

[forgues research]

	Quote: Originally Posted by GoldenEagle
	Ok, while I'm at it, I'll toss out some photos of the engine and pipe installation: First is a shot of the tuned pipes being fitted. A 1/32" plywood floor was added to separate the pipe tunnel from the rest of the fuselage interior. Aren't those muthers bad?! The sound in the air with these and that wide, three-blade prop is something like a turboprop. To have an airplane this big going upstairs without any deceleration is well worth the extra cost. Next is the firewall shot. Glued, screwed and tattooed! Robert provides for two laminated 1/4" lite-ply firewall pieces which I reinforced with a 1/16" aircraft ply "cookie" on both sides of each engine bolt hole. 1" x 1/16" alum. angles let me sleep better. The last photo is the engine baffling. Cool running here folks. I designed the baffles to work very much like those used in full-scale aircraft. The air enters directly over the cylinders and is immediately pushed down through the fins and out the exit hole in the bottom of the cowling. Very little hot, dead air can get trapped in the back of the cowling and heat things up. The "scoop" at the front lower cowl is made from 1/32" ply and FG'd and faired into the cowl opening lip. The rear baffle is also 1/32" ply with balsa stiffeners on the back.

That's great to hear, ya he know's what he's doing for sure.

And that is a great installation you did on the engine baffling, I like it, as I will have to do something with our 4 cylinder 300.

Why the tuned pipes instead of regular canisters.

Roger

[GoldenEagle]

Roger,
I used the tuned pipes instead of the cannisters because they produce more power with very little more weight and transition more cleanly from low to high throttle. Also, I can use the meatier 3-blade prop (wide blade) to get the improved sound quality and still be closer to 2-blade performance.

You certainly should look at the baffling on full scale 4 and 6 cylinder aircraft engines, if you haven't already, since the rear cylinders will always have a problem with higher temps in an aircooled engine.

Good luck with your line of engines - they sure are attractive.

Chris

[McCartyCFII]

Like the looks of your presure cowl.....much better engine cooling like fullscale.

[GoldenEagle]

Thanks Mac,
Now that we're getting some sumertime like temps down here, the extra cooling effort seems to be effective in minimizing power loss in long verticals and hovers.

[GremlinX]

I hear he has a 35% 260 now as well... If it builds anything like his foam stuff, count me in..