My family and I were just in San Diego over the summer. It's our favorite part of Cali. to visit.The last two times we were there we went to Balboa Park,and another time out to Cali. we went to Seal Beach.

Where can you get some of those machined inserts?

Originally Posted by ben_beyer

Where can you get some of those machined inserts?

If you are interested in the motor mount, I can make you one with all the hardware to install your motor for $35.

Pedro makes them custom for this application.

Between doing stuff with my Wife, a few hour work, I did manage to get some things done on the plane. All the servos are in, hooked up, and basic radio programming is done. I ended up not waiting for my shipment of the SWB servo arms, and went back to my original plan of using the AirWild MLP arms. I used 1 1/4" arms on the Ailerons and Elevators, and a 2 1/2 inch straight, full arm on the pull/pull rudder. These are a bit shorter than recommended, but the geometry worked out fine, and I have plenty of throw. The throws would be outrageous with the longer arms Chris recommends, but because I am going to use this plane for EMAC primarily I think the increased resolution with the shorter arms will be a better for me. There will still be plenty of throw for 3D too.

I also got the tail wheel, gear cuffs, and a number of other small stuff installed. Everything fit properly, and the build continues to be nice and easy. No irritating surprises like you get with many ARFs these days.

One of my primary accomplishments of the day was the construction of the wiring harness for the power and guidance systems. I am trying some things a little different than I have done in the past. Below is a picture of the harness all soldered up, and laid out prior to installation.



I have put labels on the various parts that I am using so you can follow my explanations easier. I will start where the batteries will connect to the harness.

A.) This is a typical "Series" connector that will plug into the two 5 Cell packs to make a 10 Cell. I constructed it using 12 gauge wire, and Deans connectors. Pretty simple.

B.) This is one of the new things I am trying. It is a "High Current Arming Switch" manufactured by Maxx Products. It goes between the batteries and the ESC, so that although your batteries are plugged in, no power reaches the ESC until the "arming plug" (C) is inserted. This type of system should add to the safety, and is being used by a number of AMA Pattern pilots. I have heard that AMA is considering requiring systems like this at contests. It comes all soldered up with Deans or Power Poles, so is an easy installation, or retro-fit.
http://www.maxxprod.com/mpi/mpi-21.h...racle%20Switch

C.) Arming plug for MPI Switch.

D.) Castle Creations Phoenix HV-85 Electronic Speed Controller. Reliable, and programmable, my favorite ESC for large electrics. I had this one on the shelf, if I were buying now, I would probably chose one of Castle's new ICE controllers. The 6mm gold plated Neu Bullet Connectors go to the motor.
http://www.castlecreations.com/produ...hv_series.html

E.) This is also a new part for me. This is the Castle Creations BEC Pro. I wanted to save the weight, complexity, charging hassels, regulators, and switches that go along with separate RX packs. Since I am using 5 JR-8611A Servos, there is the potential to draw a lot of current, especially in snaps, blenders, etc.. The CC BEC Pro can regulate a 10S pack down to 6 volts, and carry up to 20 amps. That should be more than enough for this plane. It only weighs 1 oz (plus wires), so it save a lot of weight. Another thing I like about is that it has two wires to the RX, it should support plenty of current. I wired it up to the harness after the Series connector, and before the MPI Arming Switch. Doing it this way, my RX will have power whenever I plug the batteries in. However, the ESC, and motor will not have power. This will provide a convenient, safe way to power the plane for programming the radio, doing pre-flights, etc.. I will plug the batteries in, put the canopy on, walk the plane to the runway, and then insert the Arming plug just before flying. On landing, the first thing I will do is remove the Arming plug, then I can safely walk the plane back to the pits, remove the canopy, and unplug the batteries. In theory this will be a very safe system for a large electric.
http://www.castlecreations.com/products/ccbec.html

F.) JR-921 2.4 Receiver. Plenty of channels, and these have provided rock solid flying in many of my planes.

G.) Two remote receivers. I could get by with just one remote, but I have two so why not use them. Better safe than sorry.

H.) Signal wire for throttle from the ESC to the RX.

Well, that is my power system setup for this plane. It looks like a lot all laid out like this, but it should make for a nice, clean install. I'll take pictures of the system installed once I get it done, hopefully tomorrow.

Wow looks like an awesome setup!

Hi 1bwana1,
I used the arming switch between the batteries and the ESC for 6 months, worked ok
Now I have been told this is wrong and will in the end kill the ESC, you can lengthen the motor wires, but not the battery wires (thread enclosed)
http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1122154
Regards Ivan

It's true that you want to keep the wires on the battery side of the controller as short as possible, but using an arming switch is not going to kill the ESC. Just don't use higher gauge wire than the one that comes with the controller and try and keep the total length of the wire the same as original on the ESC.


With the new ESC technology and the better quality of Lipo batteries than a few years back, ripple current problems have pretty much gone away.

I went with the power combo for this plane and I have a question. The Airboss 90 doesn't have a built in BEC. What would be the best way to power my radio system? Should I buy a BEC or should I use a separate receiver battery?

My recommendation is a separate Rx battery.

Originally Posted by EXTREME FLIGHT

My recommendation is a separate Rx battery.

I second that.

Ok thanks!

The maiden of the first EF 78" Extra here in San Diego happened this morning. Tim Attaway's build was complete, the weather today was perfect, sunny, mid 60's, 0 to 5mph winds right down the runway. Tim decided there was no point in waiting until Wednesday, so he called us up, and told us to meet him at the field.

As usual Tim did an immaculate job with the build, this is sure one great looking plane. here is Tim posing with his plane.



We did a very thorough pre-flight and range check. Originally Tim had a 72mHZ setup. He was uncomfortable with the range check so we switched to his 9303 2.4 setup before the first flight. We also used a WattsUp meter to check the motor numbers. Tim is flying one of the Scorpion motors, with a 20 X 13 prop, and as you can see in the picture, on the ground he was pulling 81 amps, and producing 2843 Watts. The plane weighs 12 1/2 pounds, so this is well in excess of 200 Watts per pound.



Here is a good view of Tim's very tidy installation. Tim has a 2 cell lipo RX running through a switch, to a regulator, and then to the RX. This should be a very reliable setup. He has a Castle Creations HV-85 ESC, and I believe is running JR-8611A servos on all surfaces.




Finally here is a picture of the plane taking off on the maiden. Sorry no more in flight pictures. I tried, but all my pictures suck. Hopefully we will have a better photographer on Wednesday for the other maidens.


Tim is primarily an IMAC pilot, he competes in the Unlimited class. Since I did not fly the plane, I will reserve detailed comments about flight characteristics until I maiden mine. However, Tim was very pleased with the way the plane flew, and he is an extremely fussy pilot. He did fly most of the IMAC Unlimited Sequence, and it looked very good. Tim did make the comment that it did rollers as well as his 40% Extra. High praise from a pilot of Tim's capabilities.

The Scorpion power package did very well. Most flying was done around 1/2 to 3/4 throttle. At full throttle the verticals were strong. Tim even did a few double snaps on vertical up-lines, and the plane accelerated out of them. He was flying on 10S 3700 mAH packs. Since we didn't know how much he would use, Tim set the timer at 6 minutes, and landed after the timer went off, so was in the air about 6.5 minutes. When he landed the packs were at around 18.9 volts (5S), so I am estimating he could have flown for another minute. The Unlimited IMAC Sequence demands a lot of power, so if he was sport flying, and doing some low power high alpha stuff, he may have been able to go even longer. I think for flying the two sequences on a single flight as required in EMAC competition he will need a 5000mAH setup.

Well, the first EF 78" Extra has flown successfully. There will be four other maidens this week, and we will have much more detailed flight reports.

Good to hear the maiden went well ! It does look really sweet in the pic with Tim holding the tail up ! I wasn't sure on how it was going to look being stretched out and all..

Can't wait to see how the blue one looks and hear about the flight reports !

Frank