Aerobatic Performance Team
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ARF Reviews
Extreme Composite Edge 540T 50CC
product Reviews
The Ladies Justina and Dietrich 42% Extra 260
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ARF Build Review TOC Extreme 40% Extra 260
Build Review by Rockin' Rick Part 1
The plane arrived in two cartons delivered by UPS truck freight. There was some minor damage to the outside cardboard but nothing was able to penetrate past the plywood sandwich packing. I inspected all the parts and then put the fuse up in the cradle to get started on the build. There was no manual supplied with this model but the manual for the 35% model is available for download at this url: http://www.troybuiltmodels.com/newsite/manuals/pdf/SD-Models_35_Extra260_Manual.pdf. Installations are very similar on this 40% model. The engine box and canister area are very spacious and will have ample room for our flying gear. A nice hardware package is included also with the kit, but I won't be using some of the components . The servo arms will be saved for another day on this one as I like to use SWB Arms for a more positive connection to the control surfaces. Addtionally, some of the control horns will also be omitted in the build. It's a shame that they sent the 3/8" offset linkages for this plane. They are certainly strong enough for this size aircraft mated to a 10-32 control post. Unfortunately, these are from a bygone era where the surfaces for the ailerons, elevators, and rudder were not beveled. Proper geometry cannot be achieved using this type of linkage with beveled control surfaces. There just is no room left to drill out the 10-32 control post and have sufficient wood left at the edge of the control surfaces for me. But I've got a fix for this...we'll get to that later.
The canopy was taken out of the wrapper to get the templates made up and sent off to Kregg Wright at www.wrightrc.com for building the Virtual Cockpit for this model. Kregg is a master at cockpit design and he has done marvelously with all our planes. The framework on the model is glued very well and appears to be very light for this size plane. The bottom half of the cowling was temporarily mounted to establish were the firewall needs to be located for our 3W-150CC engine installation. This engine has a length of 7 3/8" from the back mounting to the rear of the spinner plate. 7 inches was found to be the measurement if the firewall was installed without modification. I'll inlet the firewall 1/4" and that will give me a clearance of 1/8" between the cowling and the spinner back plate. I've layed out where I want to drill the 1/8" holes for the dowels I'll use in the sides of the firewall mount.
With the firewall temporarily clamped in place, I'm going to layout the bolt pattern for the reinforcing aluminum angles for the firewall. The firewall was taken over to the drill press and the holes for the angle bolts and the engine mounting bolts were drilled out. Then the holes for the wood dowels and the aluminum angles were drilled on the engine mounting box. The firewall was fitted to the engine box and where 30 minute epoxy was used to glue it into place. A full series of clamps were then applied to close up any gaps.
We have a nice installation of the aluminum angle now that will provide more than sufficient strength for extreme 3D flying. The engine mount was offset 11/32" right of true center on the firewall. This should line up our spinner nicely with the cowling. I've reinforced the engine box with 1/2x4 screws drilled into the square stock inside the engine box. The construction deficiencies of the Dietrich Extra 260's engine box have made me wary of possible failures in this area. The sides of the engine box were not reinforced and shook loose after only 3 flights. This caused severe vibration throughout the aircraft and could have led to a catastrophic failure. I'll do this now on all successive builds. Lets get that engine mounted!
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© 2006-2007 Carolina Sky Dancers
HI
everyone! The plane arrived on 4-24-08 via 18 wheeler nicely packaged in
heavyweight double cardboard boxing with plywood sandwiched between the
cartons. Yeah, the box kickers at UPS shipping were really PO'ed about
that kind of packaging because they couldn't destroy anything while in
transit. That plywood really slows 'em down and puts bruises on
their feet, not the airplane.
This plane will be used as a replacement for our aging Dietrich Extra 260's.
I thought that Dietrich's plane was OK, but you get what you pay for. Dietrich
could have really improved on the plane's design and hardware deficiencies in a few
areas. Although it is not a "QB" type ARF, I think that the TOC
Extreme version supersedes the Dietrich model in construction
as we'll see when the build progresses. We're gonna' change gears on
the engine for this one also. The 3W-150 is going to fill the bill.
I'll also be using the new Futaba Fasst 2.4GHz system with this
airplane. Bodzilla says it's time we all got on the ball and kept up with
the changing technology, so here we go. I'll be operating my
trusty Futaba 12Z radio with the 2.4GHz module and the Futaba R6014DPS
receiver on this plane. Stay tuned!
