Christchurch and District Model Flying Club
Sloping Off - our newsletter

I have been seduced.

Yes I have been seduced. She is small and pretty and has curves in the right places. To start with things did not go very well, and some adjustments had to be made.

After all there is an age difference. But I can say that we are now in an ongoing relationship. This gets better and better the more we know each other. Although as in all relationships there are good patches and not so good.

I write of course about the Extra 300 by Multiplex (what were you thinking about?) I used to have an Extra 300 when I flew IC engines. It had a span of about five feet and I put a 75 engine in, it was a super plane. I bought it second hand and only parted with it when I gave up flying for a time. This one is the Multiplex foamy, 1200mm wingspan with the power train installed.

Most of these foam planes have a design fault. The Acro wot does not have enough space to get the battery etc in. The Spitfire can suffer from a wandering battery and the centre of gravity is too close to the wheels so it tips over when you land

What about the lovely Extra.

I was fettling it as you engineers say. I noticed that hanging out from the air exhaust hole in the fuselage was an extension wire. Some time earlier I had fixed up the connections and they all worked.  The plane has the servos at the rear with short rods and long wires, except the wires are not long. They are short and joined to the Receiver by extensions. The plug on the servo was slightly smaller than the Futaba extension and had dropped out. It was almost impossible to keep it in place.

That was on the rudder so I glued it in and did the same for the elevator. It is just as well it did fall out when it did . I dread to think what would have happened if it had come adrift in the air. (I can tell you - Ed)

The course of true love never runs easy so they say and so it was with the Extra.  I landed it after the seventh flight and found that the prop would only chitter back and forward a few inches. I thought the motor had lost a magnet. I took out the motor and ESC and sent it back to Sussex Models who sent it to Multiplex who turned out to be Perkins., They could find no fault with the motor or the ESC. But said they would replace them. I expect they did because it now flies very well.  One of my party tricks is to put the nose down and put it into a tight inside loop. To do this you need a lot of down on the elevator. Then when it is looping well, tip it over so it has the wings pointing up and down and keep the loop going . This plane will do that well. It also knife edges well so it looks as though we will have a lot of fun together.

Now the tail wheel has dropped off and the undercarriage has collapsed. There is hardly any glue on it I suppose that is life.   I have fixed both and we will try again.

Brian Wiseman

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