“New” 28% Wild Hare Extra 300 84”– Red Black Yellow

[cyoung450]

Too windy today, I didn't go out, I may head out tomorrow.

CY

[karlwatt]

	Quote: Originally Posted by cyoung450
	Now that you mention that I am not sure. Never thought about it. I do have two switches, so I run both batteries on seperate switches, so both switches go to both inputs on the Batt Share then Batt Share has two outputs so I put one reg on each output to the RX. Make sense I always have to think about that one..... so it goes batt to switch, switch to batt share, batt share to voltage reg, voltage reg to rx on two channels. Am I missing something about the Batt Share device I thought I read the instructions correctly. Yes I just checked it again, It is how they say to do it to keep a redundant system, 2 inputs 2 outputs, and the regs go on the output side going to the RX. CY

Look at the BatShare instructions on the website www.smart-fly.com. They have 2 batteries going to 2 switches, then both switches go to the BatShare to 1 regulator to 1 receiver.

[cyoung450]

Yes you are correct it can be done that way, BUT if you want redundant regulators also you would do it the way I have described. Not that regulators fail that often but anything can happen.

CY

[FlyinTiger]

Hey guys...CYOUNG450 and KARLWATT, if you want to carry on a conversation about your own business or your aircraft, PM eachother or start another thread.

Please don't ramble on in the middle of an aircraft review about something not related.

Thank you for your understanding.

[cyoung450]

Sorry to intrude on your thread Flyin Tiger. Good luck with the build. I think the power system of the plane is a huge part of the build but that is just MHO.

CY

[karlwatt]

	Quote: Originally Posted by FlyinTiger
	Hey guys...CYOUNG450 and KARLWATT, if you want to carry on a conversation about your own business or your aircraft, PM eachother or start another thread. Please don't ramble on in the middle of an aircraft review about something not related. Thank you for your understanding.

Sorry FlyinTiger,

Did not mean to offend you or disrupt the flow of your build thread.

[FlyinTiger]

Thanks guys. I appreciate the replies. It's just that alot of the communication that was occuring didn't pertain to this build. I've experienced many people getting discouraged when a build thread starts out well and then deteriorates to random idle chit chat.

Good luck with your projects as well! :-)

[FlyinTiger]

I chose to go ahead and give the new and improved stock tail wheel a chance...it looks fairly robust and shows promise. When installing the tail wheel assembly I made sure to trial fit all the parts first, making certain the wire was seating all the way down onto the fuselage. The hole for the tail-gear wire itself was already drilled, all I had to do was remove the covering over the hole. I had to trim some of the wood under the curvature of the wire to make it fit properly. Once the wire was sitting flat on the fuselage I proceeded to drill the holes for the hold-down brackets.

After everything looked good I took everything off the fuselage, hardened the screw holes and the large wire hole by adding some thin CA, then reassembled the parts.

Now that the tail wheel assembly is finally installed, I adjusted the wheel collars for no slop in the tail wheel trailer piece and made sure to put thread locker on the set screws.

[FlyinTiger]

Landing gear are definitely not the most glamorous part of building aircraft, but at least as important as a reliable engine and consistent servos.

Polished and lightened, these new landing gear are quite nice. Some others have said these gear are "flimsy" and "too weak" but I beg to differ. At this level, even though it is an "entry level" gasser, and possibly a "giant scale trainer" as gently as it is to land, the gear should be more than adequate. I'll report more on ground handling and gear strength later after I fly this Extra from grass and pavement.

I like the new smaller wheel pants. Instead of stuffing the 3-1/2" wheels into the smaller pants, I decided to save a little weight while making the pants more comfortable by using some Dubro 3" Lightweight wheels. They fit nicely into the pants and still give me plenty of wheel to handle the thickest grass runways. I am saving an additional 3 oz (84 grams) by switching to the smaller wheels as well. Soon enough I'll have saved a whole pound! I've already offset the increased weight of the canister muffler over the Slimline Pitts.

Tom at Wild Hare R/C suggests upgrading the stock axles to a nice set of hardened steel ones, like the Dubro axles. The Dubro set will have to be cut down to fit inside the wheel pants.

A technique I like is to raise up the wheel pants a bit on the wheel to expose more wheel for ease of ground handling on those grass fields.

My wheels had a 5/32" hole, so I had to drill them out to accommodate the 3/16" axles. A prop reaming tool and drill bit did the job and kept the hole in the center of the wheel hub.

[FlyinTiger]

Next will be mounting of the main landing gear and securing wheel pants. The polished landing gear were already drilled and so was the fuselage...can't get any easier than that! I just flipped the plane over on my building table, set the gear on (making sure to get the side with the right angle toward the front), put the screws down through the holes which perfectly matched the fuselage and screwed on the lock nuts from the inside. The fuselage is so nice and large that I had no problems reaching in through the canister tunnel and putting the nuts. My ratchet and socket provided a simple and effective way to hold the nuts while I tightened them with an allen wrench from the outside.

By cutting the fiberglass where the wheel pant goes around the wheel axle I was able to make it easy to install or remove the wheel pants...nice for the day I might show up at a fun-fly where the grass is too long for the decorative pants. Also, to make sure the pretty pants don't get torn up on a day to day basis I raised them up 1/4" higher than would have been possible had I not trimmed the fiberglass in the mounting area.

After setting the plane on its wheels for the first time I noticed that the gear seem to give just a little. Perfect balance between stiff and functional for those bumpy runways. As long as it stays springy and doesn't start spreading we'll be all right!

Once I was comfortable with the way the pants were installed I removed them, took off the wheels and axles and proceeded to install the wonderful little fairings that came as a surprise. Silicone "household glue" is what I used to make a flexible and lasting glue joint. I made sure to leave a 1/16" gap between the fuselage and the fairings to give room for the flexing of the landing gear...it shouldn't be much up there at the fuselage sides.

Upon the final installation of the wheel pants I used thread locker to secure the bolts in the blind nuts as well as the lock washers.

[FlyinTiger]

Canopy trimming and mounting:

Notice the 4 integrated mounting tabs on the underbelly of the hatch? Nice improvement! This change should eliminate the wear between the dowels and the front alignment plate from which the first version of the 84" Extra suffered.

For the canopy mounting, I picked up some Scotch 3M plastic tape at Walmart for $1.97. The red is a perfect match for this aircraft! To ensure a clean look, I cut the sides of the canopy with a straight edge and xacto knife so there was room for the tape to stick to the hatch. I took care not to stretch the tape too much for fear that it would pull off in hot weather. To finish it up, I cut slits in the tape at the rear of the hatch after removing it from the fuselage and secured it all nice and neat.

[Fudman]

Looking good.

[RustyTumbles]

Looks great, You are doing a super job!!

I used the same method to attach my canopy. Expect it to pull in just a touch as mine has now we are comming into summer. I just used a touch of rubbing alcohol to remove the goo that was left behind.

Those fairing for the main gear look very good, just cleans up the model and makes it look more scale For the main axles I used full threaded bolts with nylock nuts, as I have had and seen to many wheel collars fall off during fllight allowing the wheel to part company from the axle.

[FlyinTiger]

I've used the "bolt-and-nut" axles on smaller models with great success, my 58" Edge 540 is using those now, but I'd be afraid of the threaded bolt being two weak to handle an inadvertant bounce during a less than perfect landing.

A little loctite on the set screws and a good check prior to each day's flying has kept my wheel colars in check...though I have found a loose one once in a while and had to tighten it back up.

Thank you for the compliment.

[gareth.ky]

Its a media Blitz! You have build threads on three sites that I have counted so far Keep up the good work!