Extreme Aviation: 60" Extra EXP V2__Grand Old Lady Falls Into Fountain Of Youth

The original Extreme Flight 60" Extra was a groundbreaking plane on many levels, and even today it's still the top of the food chain in mid sized performance. I plan to keep mine until it's wore out, but after four hard years she is still like new and flying as beautifully as ever, so really no end in sight. She has been a wonderful, beautiful plane all the way around and what I like to fly on Real flight as was well just because it looks so good.

Time and technology has moved on a bit though, and after eight years or so it was time to update The Grand Old Lady.

As seen 3DHS 60" Slick 580 V2__Hell Yeah!, V2 means expanded use of carbon and other mixed composite construction. This is so extensive that every former in the plane and the entire motor box is laminated with tough, light composite reinforcement. The entire former is covered on one side, which eliminates the heavier, and less strong ply material previously used. In every possible way this is a step forward, and the V2 is reportedly a full 3 ounces lighter than the V1, which was already pretty light.

This with carbon stringers make the plane lighter, but critically stiffer and more durable. Stiffer planes fly better because everything stays in alignment better under load, which is, after all, what we do in 3DXA........... put the plane under extreme load, that is. We plan to do plenty of that.

As far as durability, my second V2 Slick is coming up on a full year of pounding, and the wings are still tight, the gear block still rigid and even the covering is still drum tight. Fuselage flexing can stretch covering enough that over time it becomes wrinkly and doesn't shrink up like when it was new, but my Slick still looks like a new plane and I have never, outside of the initial build, even touched it with an iron. This is usually the bulk of my maintenance, but the V2 construction seems to have eliminated that. I fly it, put it away, and then preflight is always just checking the servo arm screws for tightness. Build it, fly it and forget it.

Click To Enlarge On All Pictures

Let's also not forget the two beautiful new color schemes. One is based on Jim Bourke's full scale Extra and is stunning in both the layout and contrast. Very easy to see, For us old guys who need something more visible, the second scheme is the same, though in super bright yellow/red/blue Oracover. It's even easier to see like this, thought the white is still distinctive enough. Either is a great choice and I only bought the yellow because I had to pick one or the other. I will probably fly this one for awhile and add a white when finances permit. I like them both.

Since I have written so much about the Extra and her incredible flying manners already, this article will center more on the construction and features. There will be at least one follow up flying article. The 3 oz weight saving and stiffer construction over the last plane is going to make a big difference and well worth talking about, so read the rest of this and stay tuned.

Flying

A full flying report with more video will follow, but for now here's a short test hop.

Extra EXP V2__Systems Check from Doc Austin on Vimeo.

Edit: Florida's "winters" can be wildly unpredictable, and after a few nasty weeks we suddenly unexpected got perfect conditions, and I just happened to have a new plane that needed some breaking in.

We are now 10 flights in with this plane. Since I was already so familiar with the 60" Extra, there was nothing about the V2's character that absolutely shocked me. Initial flights more or less affirmed what I already knew, but after a few flights to dial the CG in I had enough confidence to start pushing the plane hard, and that's when she revealed herself.

The biggest difference seems to be in slow and post stall flight. The V2 is three ounces lighter in the V1. Initially I was unconvinced this would be a day and night thing, but it's pretty close to that. This is probably the most floaty 60" plane I have. Once I started to drag it around in bog slow flight I gained more and more confidence in her 3D and you can see that in the videos. The weight savings were well worth it and the flying confirms this.

Extrra EXP V2__Secret Servo Testing from Doc Austin on Vimeo.

Most other flying characteristics are unchanged though. This is an Extra, so it's going to fly like one, only this is the best one yet. Perhaps it's just me because I grew up as a pilot flying Extras, but I think everything an Extra does is exactly what an airplane is supposed to do.

I've written so much about Extras in general I often repeat myself. You can scan the blog for my other Extra articles if you want blow by blow, maneuver by maneuver analysis, but the big difference on this one is her light weight nature. This really surprised me.

The other improvement is that the composite construction makes the plane so much stiffer that it flies with a new found precision. The Extra was already the best at this, and now she is even better.

Extra EXP V2__Secret Servo Testing II from Doc Austin on Vimeo.

We plan to do a follow up flying article on this plane, so I'm going to cut it short here. The V2 is good enough that she deserves a longer evaluation period because you can't truly learn a plane in such a short period. With this being a new plane we wanted to get the information out right away. However, the flying just sort of happened to find it's way in here because the V2 is so sweet I just had to share it.

We will be shooting a lot of video with this plane and will file a flight report in a few weeks or so. Right now I just want to enjoy it.

Features

As mentioned before, every former in the plane is covered with a layer of carbon mixed composite material. Since carbon and composite laser cuts so cleanly, you don't have to worry about nasty carbon splinters sticking you when you are working inside the plane. If you've ever gotten a carbon splinter you know what I am talking about.

We rarely talk about laser cutting any more because it's industry standard, but it's worth mentioning we now have ultra precise parts made and of stiff, durable material, and that's going to make the plane fly and lock in better. I tested this durability (inadvertently, of course) when I smashed my original 60" V2 Sick. No plane could have been expected to survive that, but damage was so much less that I was very surprised. It was still too damaged (it was a huge hit), but I think the plane's strength may have protected my equipment.

The landing gear covers now come ready to install. I hated messing with that damm tubing but now it's done for you. Now all you have to do is just glue them on. This makes the plane look a lot better with pretty close to no effort.

The wheel pants are old school 3DHS style with the inside recessed so the landing gear sinks into it. This assures perfect alignment without over tightening the axle or having to use an alignment screw. Super easy.

The kit comes with a piece of rudder post they cut out at the factory when they built it. After you get the elevator hinged you slide that back in and glue it, then throw a little yellow ultrakote over it. It looks much better that way. The kit also comes with some spares of every color on the plane.

Unfortunately I was so tickled to see they included this piece that I forgot to take a picture of it before putting in in, but here's what it looks like installed.

Self Aligning Stabilizer

For me, installing the horizontal stabilizer is always the most terrifying part of the build. If you get the wrong you either have to live with a poor flying plane or set about the nasty job of debonding the stab and yanking it out, only to have to do it all over again.

Now though, we have the self aligning stab. As you can see, the leading edge of the stabilizer is notched. You slide the stab all the way in and the notched part seats against an alignment former. As long as you get the stab all the way forward, you can't get it wrong. I've built enough Extreme Flight planes with this feature that I trust it to be straight and that cuts down the usual hour I used to spend measuring over and over. Now I jam the stab in, measure it once, just to be sure, and glue it in.

Here is how it works: Here you can see (blue arrows) how the front of the stab is notched, and how there is an alignment former in the fuselage at the front of the stab sattle. As long as you get the stab all the way forward and the two flat faces butted up against each other, misalignment is nearly impossible.

I've built five 52" Slicks and two 60s, and all of them have been perfect. However, I suggest measuring before you glue just to be sure. You have to be certain you have it pushed all the way forward until those two surfaces seat against each other.

I assume this will be a standard feature on all the new planes, and it really takes the stress out of it.

Hardware

If you have already built a 60" EXP, there's not much to see here. It's the same time proven stuff from the excellent smooth and drag/slop free ball links to the simple, ingenious bolt on tail wheel assembly. Hardware is only exciting when it works, so from that standpoint it's exciting as hell. Still, all I want from hardware is to trust it enough to forget about it, and I've used enough of this that's exactly what I do.

In fact, I think about hardware so little that I forgot to take a picture. Still, it's a good thing to have stuff you trust enough to just forget about. This doesn't make riveting reading, but it does make everything simple, easy and bulletproof. It's a 360 win/win.

Equipment

As always, the Xpwr Torque 4016/500Mk. II is the industry standard for performance and anvil like durability. The same is true of the Airboss 80 ESC, and the extra complication of an additional 8.0 volt Castle 10 amp BEC is worth it to keep the Airboss' perfectly linear and flyable throttle response.

Unchanged is that things that are designed to work together always work together better than things that aren't, so there was not going to be any mixing and matching. Certainly if you already have a power system, you gotta watch the pennies and use that, but also remember you save about $50 if you buy the airframe/power system combo, which makes it price competitive with lesser units. If you don't have a power system, anything else doesn't make nearly as much sense.

Set Up

Having flown the V1 so much I had a good idea where to start with the V2. I used the same length arms as my V2, though for ProModeler servos I had to switch to a 25 tooth spline.

Ailerons

Here I used the second hole on a ProModeler PDRS101 25 tooth spline servo are. This hole is at 7/8" from center, and this length is what I've been using all along. Here I am getting 31 degrees of travel, and the sweet spot on this plane for me is 31-33 degrees. I still have a lot of room to turn it up in the Aura.

Elevator

Here is the Xcessories 1.25" machined aluminum arm. I like this are for a lot of reasons. It slips on an off without a lot of pulling and prying, but with it's cinch bolt the arms locks down tight on the spines, and would probably not come off even if you left the retention bolt out. Still, it's highly recommended you use the retention bolt too. A pleasant surprise here it that with this arm I got every degree available from the elevator's travel. Any more and it would be binding at up elevator, so this was the perfect solution.