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Aeroworks 35% Extra-260 QB (quick build)
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OUT
OF THE BOX |
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| There are just so many details to go over!
So many features, and so much to like.
First, let me say I don't see any damage
anywhere. And, second the wings and ailerons
are built up; they feel light to me. The
fuse doesn't feel light... but... but it
does have the canopy (which is finished)
attached, and it is way stout around the
landing gear plate and engine box. Some
other things... the canopy is installed with
machine bolts using... get this... sealing
washers! Machine bolts and sealing washers
are also included for the cowl. There are
strings in the wings for the aileron
extensions, I saw foam tires to keep the
weight down, the landing gear had a big
lightening hole/slot in it... the wing tube
felt light. The canopy came bolted on and
the fit was real nice. The wheel pant's
glass and paint looked nice and they feel
light, too. The quality of everything looked
really excellent, can't believe it costs
less than 1K. |
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| There's really alot to say about this
picture... first is the size of the elevator
versus the stab, you can see the stab is
small and the elevator huge. Check out the
covering and the prep of the sheeting
underneath it... it's really much nicer than
any of the wooden ARFs I've dealt with.
That's the covering job right out of the
box... the prep on the wood and the covering
job looks excellent everywhere I have looked
at it. As advertised, the hinges are glued
in and they are smooth, too. I thought this
plane was going to be real good... but it's
actually looking real great! |
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| Here was a big concern... with the hinges
already glued in... and having a 1/64"
gap... would there be enough throw? Well?
What's your opinion? ;) |
This pic
shows, again, the quality of the sheeting
itself and it's preparation... and the
excellent covering job. You get an idea of the large size of the
ailerons, too. |
We have the size, but do we have the throw?
Here's a picture of the aileron just flopped
over of its own accord. |
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| And, here it is with a little pressure being
applied to hold it over "bevel to bevel." I
think this will do. |
Here's the root end of a wing... you can see
the ends of the string for the aileron servo
extensions there. To say these planes are
manufactured cleanly is an understatement,
as you can see. |
I've had trouble with wing retention on some
brand planes in the past. But, here the
anti-rotation dowels and the retention bolts
are solid and there is an extra ply plate
behind the already ply root rib for the
retention bolt anchor. |
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| Large size aluminum anti-rotation dowels
ain't goin' no place! |
Here's a pic of the landing gear, showing
that lightening hole I mentioned. |
Here's the pants... strong but light glass
work...
three colors, too! |
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| I tell ya'... everything, and I mean
everything, so far has been first rate
custom builder quality. |
Aeroworks does the wheel pant mounting
exactly the way I've done it on DOD for
years. Sweet! |
Like everything else on this plane, I just
can't imagine how the cowl could be any
nicer. |
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| It comes with a cowl ring installed, too...
very elegant way to mount a cowl. |
I found this bag of foam, cable ties, and
Velcro straps in the box, too. Everything
but the kitchen sink. |
These included engine mounting templates
sure are going to make the engine mounting
go fast! |
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| Here's some pics of the hardware that comes
with it... I'm planning on using it all...
building this plane stock. |
Hardware that shows on the outside of the
plane, like the stab attachment bolts, are
stainless steel button heads. |
Aeroworks really didn't miss a trick on this
one! You (third person plural) just gotta be
impressed.
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| Pretty cool, again, Aeroworks thought of
everything and then some! |
Jimmy said, "Wow, Joe, these bolts just
lineup in the canopy so great!" |
Looks like the back of the hatch is
removable to add a pilot. |
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| Like Aeroworks advertises, "quick build",
the holes are drilled for the tailwheel and
it just bolts on. |
Rudder pull/pull wire exit holes, already
cut out... and with plastic
tube glued in and cut flush. |
The manual is very complete, with lots of
clear high resolution pictures. It comes on CD. |
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| While Jimmy was bolting on the wings he
said, "Look at that, they just screw right
in! Everything fits like its suppose to! The
bolts just go right IN! Joe, these bolts
just went in dead nuts!"
I then asked Jimmy how the wing tubes fit, he
said, "Awesome, just PERFECT!" |
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| We got it all together to the point I had my
Wild Hare R/C 35% Extra-300 when I weighed
it. The WH weighed 15.5 lbs assembled to
this same point. Drum roll please. This one
does weigh more, 1/2 lbs more to be
precise... it's 16 pounds. The canopy on the WH was lighter, and the landing gear was,
too. I might go with a CF landing gear and
see if I can't make up that 8oz or even
more, probably... just with the CG landing
gear alone. The wing tube seems light, so
I'll probably just stay with it. Picking it
up for the weigh in, and looking at all the
parts, I had thought it would be around 15
lbs, but nope. Anyway, we'll do a final
weight when we're done (probably 12 hours
actual assembly time, it looks like). And,
put it in the air and see how light it flies
on the wings. It sure looks and feels like
it will fly light... just have to weight and
see... but I'm optimistic. |
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ASSEMBLY |
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| My buddy, Jimmy, showed up with some
Krispy Kreme donuts! Jimmy wanted to
check out the plane and also help me get
started on it. :-) |
Jimmy bolted on the landing gear...
blind nuts were already installed, holes
were pre-drilled... Jimmy said the bolts
all lined up perfect and bottomed out
easily by finger tightening... then he
just snugged them up with the wrench. |
He
said the landing gear plate is epoxy'd
in solid, and I'm watching him put a
drop of
ZAP
Thin
CA in the wood screw
holes for the landing gear hatch cover
he's about to put back on. |
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| When Jimmy screwed on the hatch he said
the fit of the hatch was "JUST PERFECT!" |
Jimmy's got the landing gear skirts on.
The skirts are pre-drilled and the
landing gear is pre-drilled and tapped. |
This plane is not afraid of very clear,
close-up pictures! |
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| Next Jimmy started putting the servos
and linkages on the wings. Going with
Hitec 5955 Digital Servos all around, on this plane. |
Going with the stock pushrods and
control horns. But gonna try out the new
3mm servo screws from
MicroFasteners. |
Mat came over this morning and we drove
over to USPS to pick up a new fire
breath'n
3W-106 engine. 8-) |
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| There's so many steps you normally have
putting together a plane,
even with an ARF, marking holes,
drilling holes, putting in blind nuts,
etc. But, on this model you keep
discovering that many of those
assembly/build steps are already done
for you. Here's just one more
example... I always check for adequate
wood under the servo screws and often
have to add some doubled up ply or
hardwood under the servo screw area.
Well?... once again, went to do
something I normally have to do, and low
and behold it was already done. And,
done the way I would do it. Gotta love
it. |
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| You don't get to do much cut'n, dremel'n,
drill'n, or gluing on this QB. One of
the rare times is the rudder. I think
due to its height they don't glue the
hinges in for you on that one surface. |
Normally I like to leave a decent size
gap on the hinges of ARFs... 3/32" works
good for me. But, with the
counterbalance alignment to the vertical
stab to consider... this hinge gap had
to be tight. |
Mat handled this for me... first thing
he had to do was dremel down an 1/8" or
so into the pre-drilled hinge holes so
as to have the hinge knuckle fit in
there nicely without any binding |
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| Mat lubed up the knuckles and then mixed
up some
30min Z-POXY. He used a small
dowel to put the
30min Z-POXY
in the holes...
first he glued the hinges in the rudder,
then when that had hardened, he glued
the rudder with hinges into the vertical
stab. Wiped up any excess glue with
denatured alcohol... and that was about
that. |
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| Also included is a complete cut-vinyl
graphics package... just don't know how
Aeroworks includes all this for the
price. |
The QB comes with a nice fuel tank with
plenty of tygon fuel line for getting
the plumbing done. It also comes with
pre-cut tubes for setting up the stopper
and also for setting up a piece of tube
mid carb line in the tank. Very
complete. |
Nothing wrong with the included tank,
but I have a couple of
DUBRO 32oz-ers in
the shop, so I'll go with one of these.
And, might try out one of these
Fromeco
"Tourniquets", I think they're calling
them? |
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| I
generally run canisters, but thought I'd
give standard mufflers a go on this QB.
These are
Supersonics from
Aircraft International. |
I taped on the template for the 3W-106.
I think the manual shows to use it for
marking, but I used it for a drill
guide. |
I ran a 1/16" bit through then a 1/8"
bit through, verifying they stayed
center in the template holes. Then I
drilled the 13/64" hole and removed the
template. |
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| Finally I drilled the holes out with a
19/64 bit to have them ready for the
Micro- Fasteners 1/4-20 blind
nuts. I pushed the blind nuts in place.
Then got the DA template and drilled out
the holes so 1/4-20 bolts would pass
through easily. |
Then I used some
full-thread 1/4-20 bolts... with some fender washers... to
pull the blind nuts in tight without
messing up the firewall wood on either
side. I like to use
ZAP
Thin
CA at this point to keep the blind
nuts in place permanent. |
At this point it occurs to me that I
never checked Aerowork's template at
all. I never even put it up to the
engine. So, I grab the engine and it
slips on just like butter. Meaning
Aeroworks did their job right with the
template. |
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| No hassl'n coming up with some
engine standoffs... the QB provides 24
aluminum standoffs for you to use as
needed. I check the manual and it
said one row of spacers was all I needed
for the 3W-106. |
The template had
the right bolt pattern for a 3W-106,
sure... but that doesn't guaranty the
engine is properly lined up with the
cowl! I grabbed the cowl and anxiously
took a look see. Dead nuts, again! |
I was cutting on the cowl with the
Dremel and thought I would mention that
(and you may know this already, but)
DUBRO makes cut off wheels that work
great. |
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| Now I know some of you macho guys put
your socks up with thumbtacks, drink a
12-pack before lunch, and this might have
you pulling back from me a bit ...
but... but Baby Powder is real nice in
the workshop. :) |
I pack it in my pores on my arms before
I go dremel'n away on fiberglass or
carbon fiber. If
your pores are packed with Baby Powder
the glass can't get into them... and I
smell nice, too. lol |
Aerowork's spaces the motor out for a
nice healthy 1/8" gap... an 1/8" gap is
good with me and about where I usually
space things. I'm checking here with a
6" spinner, but I have a
TruTurn coming. |
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| I generally always have to glue up some
of the joints on a new ARF. I had ZAP bottle in hand, but couldn't find a bad
glue joint. |
Even though the motor box is glued and
sealed up solid... they still pinned it
for a little extra security. |
Aerowork's
installs the blind nuts for the landing
gear in place for you. And, they
glue up everything solid down there,
too. |
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| Aeroworks has a pre-installed antenna
tube down the right side of the plane. |
Again,
with plywood doubled up under the servo
screw locations. |
It's actually one piece of ply
underneath there that is cut out for
both rudder servos. |
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| Oh... and for the 2 RX guys... there are
holes running down the left side of the
fuse for you already. |
I am embarrassed to say... but I spent
the day thinking about bolts. I wanted
2" or 2-1/2" grade 8, fully threaded,
bolts. |
I got
Micro-Fasteners to start carrying
them in the 1/4-20 size. Part numbers
will be SCA1432FT and SCA1440FT. |
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| The fuse is designed around canisters.
And, the kit includes balsa sheets for
closing off different formers to provide
good airflow. |
Here's the holdup! I always start with
the graphics, but forgot to order these
until a couple of days ago.
Kirbys Kustom is the best! |
I've been wanting a
TruTurn anodized
spinner since they came out! I ordered a
4" gold one for this plane! But, 4-1/4"
might be nice, too. |
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| These
graphics give my plane its own
unique look. |
I applied some more... |
... and
even more. |
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PAGE 2 |
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VIDEOS |
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| Build Slideshow! |
Maiden Day Video! |
Review Discussion! |
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