Final log:

Maiden flight was a dream. This is a great flying plane. It tracks true and is very predictable. Needed just a bit of elevator trim probably due to being nose heavy and that’s it.  The plane is easy to balance by just moving batteries around a bit so no need to add weight.  This Extra 330 can do whatever the pilot commands. Once you get comfortable and confident in the plane and motor you can slow the plane down to a walking pace for landings.

Pilot has a successful plane here and I highly recommend it.  Pilot is known for their customer service and they did not fall short they displayed nothing but first class appreciation to me for being a customer.  

Look for the next build blog very soon, another Pilot RC plane the 40% Edge 540.

Thanks for fallowing along,

Spats



 

It was a successful late night last night.  The two 4titude fuel tanks are installed and the McFueler Fuel Dot. I love these tanks, they weigh nothing and there is no need to solder barbs on.  All the pre-installed fittings have barbs. The only drawback is 32oz is the largest tank they make at this time so I need to run two together. 

The radio is completely installed and ready to be programmed with dual rates and expo.

I have four different props to experiment with. I am going to break the engine in on the DA recommended prop and then try a few others to find that sweet spot the plane likes.

Note: I found a right angle attachment for my Dremel when I was walking down the tool isle of my local hardware store. I thought $29 was a bit much but now that I have used it I would pay double. Wow what a benefit it is I wish I found this a long time ago!

One last evening of checking a re-checking everything and it should be good to go. It balances out on the nose heavy side which is fine for now.  Hopefully the next pictures will be of it in the air.

Thanks for fallowing along.



Life keeps getting in the way of building! I lost two evenings of building this week.

I had to do a little sanding on the wing tubes. The carbon fiber tube is difficult to slide into the wings in fact it would not go all the way in one of them so I used round stock like a closet rod and wrapped the end with peal and stick 120 grit sandpaper. I also glued a soft piece of foam on the end so I did not push the end plug out of the wing tube. Just a few strokes and the tube slipped in better. It is still tight but after about 5 flights it will loosen up.

I needed to open the bottom of the cowl just enough for air to enter and flow through the exhaust tunnel. This will act like a vacuum and help suck the air out of the cowl cooling the engine. I used one of the vents from the kit and traced it onto the cowl. I then used the cut out pieces to re-enforce the cowl between the vents on the inside.  There is no doing this without a Dremel and sharp bits. A steady hand helps too.

Next I drilled and mounted the two piece cowl together. I used 6  4/40”x1/2” screws and blind nuts.  The tape helped line up and measure where to drill as well as keep the fiberglass and paint from chipping.

Before I could say the cowl was complete I needed to create some baffling. The opening is small on this cowl and I need to direct (force) the air going in to go through the fins on the engine.  First I made templates out of thin cardboard. Once I had my design it was easy to just trace it all on to the wood and cut each piece. The top and bottom are 1/8” ply and the sides are 1/16” ply.  I could have used balsa and saved a little weight but I wanted some strength here to help it last. The baffling is epoxied to the bottom part of the cowl.  I still need to add an access opening to the engine airscrews for adjustment.

Next will be the installation of the dual fuel tanks, two 32oz for a total of 64oz of flying time. This should safely get me 12 minutes of flying time.

 

I decided to pre-test the plane fit into the trailer. No problem with room to spare. I had a good friend Dave Sullivan a professional builder take a look at the plane. He offered up some great suggestions.  The first was to remove the center servo rudder tray in the fuselage since I am not using it. I then placed a very thin sheet of ply securing all 4 points to keep the strength. I definitely shedded some weight here.  I covered it with Ultracoat carbon fiber look to give it a little bling.  Note the picture gluing the sheet down. Sometimes you just have to use whatever is in reach to weigh it down.

I did a pre-balance on the plane and located where the batteries should be placed.  I wanted to keep the tanks as close to the CG as possible so as to not have the CG change as I burn off fuel. 

The progress has been a little slow because I have been going back over a few things that have been bugging me in the back of my mind. Lots of checking re-checking that kind of OCD stuff. 

Today I will start making temples for the baffling and cutting exits vents in the bottom of the cowl. This could be a two evening project for me.

 

It’s the last finish work that seems to go soooo slow. 

I had to make a custom bent pushrod for the choke servo.  I sure wish the throttle and choke levers were not on the same side near each other on DA’s.  I spent almost two hours making sure nothing binds and moves freely.  Its woth it to me to have a choke servo rather than have a wire sticking out of the cowl that can get bumped.

Next up was the Fromeco switches.  There really were not many options where I could mount them.  It was important that they be placed within reach of the batteries that need to be placed in a necessary location for the CG.  I also like them because they have the charge plug built into them. These switches are very reliable and user friendly but not easy to mount.  The large cutout hole must be cut precise or the switch will easily push through the wood creating the need for a repair job (no thank you).  I am using the KIS system (Keep It Simple) for the electronics.  I purchased a Smart Fly EQ 6Turbo but decided to just run two separate switches instead and utilize the power of the radio to program everything.  I like to keep the engine as separate as possible from the radio so I have one switch for the radio and one for the ignition but more on that later.

Another mod I need to do was create something that would keep the canopy plastic from sliding and bending over that can cause the canopy to crack.  This is something that has happened often on this model and after making a template I think I resolved it with a 1/8” piece of ply mounted to the fuselage.  A little bit of paint and it looks a little like a head rest.

I still need to do two more mods that I have been saving for last to do.  I need to cut some vents in the bottom of the cowl and create a baffling system for the twin cylinder heads that direct/force the air through the cylinder head fins.  The standard ratio for airflow is 3 times out for 1 time in.  In other words it is very important to get the hot air out of cowled engines. I will tackle this over the weekend.

Next update in a couple days. Thanks for reading.

 

9:00pm 55 degrees out, good time to start painting. Well according to the rules of painting no it’s not a good time but my schedule doesn’t revolve around the paint rules, I have to paint when I can so I did.

One of the main reasons I paint the engine box /compartment is so that I can see if any stress cracks start. With a motor this big I want to keep an eye on any changes taking place that should not be. Plus it just looks nice. I used a wrinkle finish technique that I perfect on car dashboards when restoring cracks in them. The wrinkle finish does not show the grain or flaws in the wood joints as much.

Pilot makes pre-cuts in the wood for venting the exhaust tunnel. Should you want the vents you only need to cut the covering and iron the edges.

The engine is mounted and just waiting for the choke servo install.

Not much more to do. It all of a sudden is coming together faster than I thought it would. Of course I could always hit a bump in the road so I don’t want to ahead of myself just yet.

 

I tackled the rudder!

I cut the fuse where the servo would line up and fit the best. Really I didn’t have much choice where to put it. But it has a very direct connection and I am super happy with it. I cut off the original control horns for the cable I regrettably installed that went over the top of the stab and covered the area with matching covering. I had to cut a hole in the rudder bottom and inset a piece of ¼” plywood for the new horns (top one) to glue too. After I glued the top horn I placed wood between it and the bottom horn and glued again. Finally I added wood to the bottom of the bottom horn and recovered the square hole in the bottom of the rudder. All my worry seems was for nothing, it really was not difficult just a little time consuming.  Thank goodness for Dermal tools and numerous bit styles.

I made pushrods with carbon fiber tubes from Central Hobby and JB welded them to the 4-40 threaded rod. Very strong. I used the same pushrod set up on the throttle servo.  No bends or anything in the way of the throttle pushrod to hang up on.

I was going to do a pre balance on the plane but decided to forgo it as I am wanted to do the push/pull system no matter what and since I am not using 4 servos in the stabilizer I should be fine. I hope.

Tonight I am going to paint the engine box area and can tunnel.