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in either direction. Now try a loop. The EXTRA should pull cleanly
through loops, without wandering to either side.
Once you're
comfortable, try knife-edge flight. You will quickly find that the
EXTRA has little or no pitch/roll coupling and that it easily
maintains altitude with just a little rudder input! You will also
discover that your EXTRA has outstanding inverted flight
characteristics. Our prototypes require only the smallest amount of
down elevator to maintain level inverted flight!
Assuming you're comfortable and getting used to the airplane, take
it to a safe altitude and throttle back to get a feel for the slow flight
and stall characteristics. Properly balanced and trimmed, your
EXTRA should demonstrate fairly sedate, no fuss stall
characteristics. Once flying speed and up elevator input is bled off,
the EXTRA should just drop its nose and resume flying as speed
picks up. All of this is great information to have when you are
setting up the first landing.
Landing the EXTRA is a pleasure. We like to keep a little power on
the engine during final approach, down to a few feet off the ground.
Back completely off the throttle once the airplane is low to the
ground with a good rate of descent established. Flair the airplane
as the ground approaches for a smooth 3-point landing and rollout.
Hard landings are not necessary, sound piloting skills are.
The second flight should be even more fun because you have by
now inputted any required trims learned from the first flight. Before
flying again, check the airplane for anything that may have come
loose, become disconnected, etc. This is good practice and tends
to insure a long life for the model.
As you become more familiar with your EXTRA, you are going to
discover its ability to perform aerobatics. The EXTRA is an elegant
aerobatic machine with seemingly endless capabilities. For those
of you interested in using your EXTRA for 3-D aerobatics, set up
your radio to take advantage of the huge control movements
available from this model. However, we would urge you to "sneak
up" on such control throws, making very sure you have them
available to you only on your high rate switches!
MAINTAINING YOUR MODEL
Getting into the habit of routinely performing simple maintenance
and inspection of your EXTRA 300 ARF will keep it looking good
and flying good for a long time. Full-scale airplanes receive this
kind of routine treatment and fly safely for years. Your R/C model
airplanes should receive the same consideration.
While still at the flying field, and after you've finished flying for the
day, empty the fuel tank completely with your fuel pump. After
draining the tank, start the engine and let it run the fuel lines totally
dry. Old glow fuel, that has been left in the tank for more than a
few hours, will not run properly.
After each flying session, take the time to completely clean your
model, removing all spent fuel, dirt, and debris from the finish. We
use and suggest fresh, good quality paper towels and a silicon-free
cleaner for degreasing and polishing. SIG makes one of the best
cleaners for this purpose - Pure Magic Model Airplane Cleaner.
This product is great for cleaning, degreasing, and polishing
virtually any model aircraft covering material. Clean the model
thoroughly, paying special attention to any and all areas that were
sprayed by engine exhaust.
Clean the airplane until it shines,
including the engine, prop, and spinner.
At home, take a little time to completely inspect the airplane,
looking for any loose bolts, screws, covering seams, etc. Anything
that you find wrong - immediately fix! Inspect the fuselage radio
compartment carefully. Check each servo, looking for any loose
linkages. Make sure that each R/C link is secured to the servo
output arms with short lengths of medium fuel tubing. Then, check
each nylon control horn on the flying surfaces for the same thing.
Tighten and secure anything that is not supposed be loose.
Inspect the engine, looking for any loose bolts or nuts and get them
securely back in place right away. Loose engine bolts can almost
be totally remedied by removing them, cleaning them with alcohol
and using non-permanent thread lock compound, such as Loctite
®
blue.
After applying a little thread lock liquid to the threads,
re-install the bolt or nut and tighten it firmly.
Also inspect the
propeller. Immediately replace any propeller that is cracked or
nicked in any way!
Finally, after each flying session you should place the radio system
on charge. If several days pass before you fly the airplane again,
be sure to charge the radio the night before you plan to fly.
Get into the habit of performing routine inspection and
maintenance checks on all your R/C models. It will undoubtedly
pay off big someday when you discover an unsafe equipment or
structural problem that has developed during the rigors of everyday
flying.
We hope you will enjoy your EXTRA 300XS for a long time to
come. Please fly the model safely with constant regard to other
fliers, spectators, and property.
Good luck and good flying.