Building Bubba Gump's new IMAC ride - OMP Extra 300

[Sukhoikid]

Uh Brad your lucky to have that 85!!! I gotta save up some money and get a lighter engine for my yak. It is coming out a tad nose heavy for 3D flying and I have the batteries as far back as they can go on the mount. It is setup for some great IMAC flying but not 3D yet. I am adding weight to the tail wheel for now till I can afford another engine. Old 3w is a lil heavy. Airplane is coming around 28lbs.

Nice work Mike!!! Cant wait to fly Brad's Extra next week. That is if he lets me. I am enjoy the Yak so far!

[twostroke]

Nice Mike. Keep those pics coming!

[Salmon]

The control horns provided are fiberglass and the slots are precut in each surface. These are exceptional and once installed, they are super strong, stiff, and I don't see any way they could ever fail! Sand the contact area of each control horn and slide into the rudder slots. Make sure they are perfectly centered by using a ruler placed on the bottom edge. I also went ahead and installed the ball links to make sure both control horns were aligned with each other. Once they are aligned and centered I wicked thin CA into both sides along the top and bottom of each horn. You could use epoxy or gorrilla glue but this is the "microwave" method......quick and easy!

Installing the rudder is also SOP. That's "standard operating procedures" for you civilians! LOL The rudder is supplied with robart style pin hinges. Like all nylon hinges, flat or pin, I like to roughen up the plastic a little with some sand paper and then clean with isopropyl alcohol to remove any plastic mold agent. Use 30 minue epoxy and a toothpick to put the epoxy into the predrilled holes and then some glue on the hinges. Make sure the hinges are aligned properly so that they flex at 90 degrees to the surface. Install the rudder and then use a rag and some more isopropyl alchohol to remove any excess epoxy. Press the rudder fully in to minimize the gap and then I use some tape at the top and bottom to hold it tight in place. Without the tape I have found that sometimes a surface can back out when unattended!

Once the rudder is installed you can finish the tail wheel steering arm. This is another really cool design. No springs, additional control horns, or finicky mess to deal with! A small hole is predrilled in the bottom of the rudder for a ball link to glue into. Roughen up the plastic again, insert into the hole, and then wick some thin CA into the joint. Make sure the ball link faces the front of the rudder. Use the metal rod provided and insert into the sterring collar of the tail wheel and through the ball link. You might have to put a bend in the wire to get a nice clean shot at the ball link. Test the maximum deflection of the rudder and cut off any excess wire. Pretty nice setup!

[bpetty620]

Kevin not a problem i hope we both get tunes of flight time in on both planes.

I would like to fly mine tomorrow for the frist time, so keep your fingers crossed

[BubbaGump]

I thought I would chim in here. Doing good here in Mississippi. Talking to my dad on the phone it sounds like the plane is coming together just fine and looks like he is driving down here in two weeks for me to practice with it for the weekend. Hey Bradley what Dualsky packs are those? Are you Kevin going to NATS this year?

Forrest

[Sukhoikid]

	Quote: Originally Posted by BubbaGump
	I thought I would chim in here. Doing good here in Mississippi. Talking to my dad on the phone it sounds like the plane is coming together just fine and looks like he is driving down here in two weeks for me to practice with it for the weekend. Hey Bradley what Dualsky packs are those? Are you Kevin going to NATS this year? Forrest

So far I think I am going. I got a lot of practice to get done though.

[Sukhoikid]

	Quote: Originally Posted by bpetty620
	Kevin not a problem i hope we both get tunes of flight time in on both planes. I would like to fly mine tomorrow for the frist time, so keep your fingers crossed

Brad I will be down at the Nall Monday around lunch. If you want to come by to get some flights on the Yak let me know.

[bpetty620]

Hey Forrest its great to hear from you, hope all is going well

The battery packs that i'm using are dualsky 5000 mah lipo packs

I have ran these pack in many plans before and have no problem

Mark at 2dogrc helps me out with sponsership and gives me great service.

I am also running a dualsky for the ignition pack, it is there 1500mah rx pack

I just finished up my extra tonight and should maden tomorrow

Kevin, I will be down Sunday night, Monday night and Tusday night on so we can fly any time just let me know

[BubbaGump]

Sweet Bradley. I been flying Dualsky batteries for over a year now, and love them. Mark helps me out with a sponsership also. I had two of the 2100mah 2cell 16c packs for the RX on the model last year and was going to put bigger batteries in it. How many flights are you getting out of those packs?

Forrest

[Sukhoikid]

	Quote: Originally Posted by bpetty620
	Hey Forrest its great to hear from you, hope all is going well The battery packs that i'm using are dualsky 5000 mah lipo packs I have ran these pack in many plans before and have no problem Mark at 2dogrc helps me out with sponsership and gives me great service. I am also running a dualsky for the ignition pack, it is there 1500mah rx pack I just finished up my extra tonight and should maden tomorrow Kevin, I will be down Sunday night, Monday night and Tusday night on so we can fly any time just let me know

See you there Brad. I am running A123s in mine. Duralite brand. So far they are working out great. Brad I am going to need you to help me out with my CG. It feels nose heavy still. I am going to try to find some extra weight to throw in the back.

[bpetty620]

Forrest if my math is right i could get 15 to 20 flights on the two 5000mah packs but of course i wouldn't push it that far

Kevin, i will be happy to help with the CG

[Salmon]

The stabs go together pretty easy. The elevators are prehinged so all you have to do is install your servos and linkages. The dual fiberglass horns like I mentioned before are just about the most solid system I've seen on a giant scale. Pretty muchthe same as most comp-arf setups. The horns are all one size and manufactured for the larger planes and thicker ailerons so I premeasured and cut them off so that they did not penetrate the top surface of the elevators. I also modified the horns to use just the lower hole and cut off the top hole only to make a cleaner appearance. Using the lower hole and a 1.5" servo arm will yield all the 3D throw you could want. If you just want to fly IMAC or non 3D then use the outer hole in the arms.

After test fitting the horns I installed both using thick CA in each precut slot and used a drill bit slid into the pivot hole of the arms temporarily to align both horns to each other. I wiped off any excess CA and allowed to cure. A slight spray of kicker sets them in place.

Mounting the servos is straight forward and the supplied titanium pushrods with ball links on each end make for a rock solid fail safe system. I went ahead and used the supplied servo control arms since I did not have any Hitec 1.5" arms readily available. Using the Hitec black hard nylon round servo arms, I bolted the aluminum arms to these using the suppied small screws and nuts. Notice the Hitec round servo wheel has a raised area in the center. I quick slap on the belt sander took this right off in seconds......WATCH YOUR FINGERS! haha Be sure to use lock-tight on the screws. I then trimmed off the excess nylon from the horn.

[Salmon]

Hey where is everyone!?..............oh yea....The Nall. LOL I guess some of us are stuck working for the government this week.

Got the ailerons all ready to go as well. Installed the control horns in the same manner as the ones on the elevators and trimmed them down to my liking. Mounted up the Hitec 7955 servos, got them programmed to match really nice and checked my throws to match. Just Y-harnessed the servos together once they were programmed and the rons work like a champ. Sure is nice having a clean setup like this. Thanks Hitec!

The big Extra is designed primarily for the new 85 cc motors although most 100 cc motors will fit fine. Since I'm using my 3W 85 in my Raven, we put Forrest's DA-100 from last year's plane up in the nose. The Extra has servo cutouts in the tail for push-pull rudder setup just for folks using the heavier engine up front. Very nice setup and I have always liked this setup much better than pull-pull cables. I ran both servo wires up to the rx and mixed and matched the throws in the tx programming. We had some JR 8611A servos from Forrest's last year plane we used for the rudder. Plenty of torque for this setup. Clean rock solid setup. I'll take more pics of the rudder setup and post tonight.

[scottiesoccer1]

Thick CA for the control horn mounting into the horizantal stabs?? Have you been doing it like that for a while. Ca is so brittle for a joint like that.

[BoneDoc]

Looking good Mike. Are those nylon/glass arms strong enough to handle the 3D load? I've stripped two MPI aluminum arms before.