3DHS Extreme Flight Slick 580 60" Build and review

[cam4569]

I got an opportunity to stop by and see @SupaTim at Northwest RC yesterday. What a great experience. I will admit I did a little drooling at first. His shop is clean and organized, he knew where everything was and had me set up in a matter of minutes. I picked up a 3DHS Slick 580 60" in the bright blue scheme. Here is a link to the airplane:
http://northwestrc.com/3D-Hobby-Shop--60-Slick-580--Blue_p_208.html
There are only a couple left and selling quickly from what Tim told me.

For my build I went with the following:
Torque 4016T/500KV
Castle Creations 90A ESC This thing is impressive, BEC output 8v and 20A. I was going to go with the standard Airboss but after talking with Tim I think this is the better option.
I picked up the Savox 1250MG servos 111 Oz of torque and .09 Sec speed ... WOW
Also picked up a couple Falcon Propellers to try, a 16x7 and a 16x8 Wood. I will be interested to see the amp draw with each runnign the Castle ESC.

My ESC will be programmed as follows: Soft start OFF, BEC 8V and Timing HIGH



The Goodies :banana::banana:


I will say they did not waste any money on the box, which is okay by me.


Everything was nicely secured in the box

The wings, SFG, wing tubes, and ailerons were inside the wing bags

Nicely painted Cowl and Pants

and the Bag O Parts


I will say I am very impressed with the quality of the finish on this plane. I looked and could not find a blemish or wrinkle anywhere. The control surfaces are attached but not glued into place. I was also surprised to learn that both styles of SFG are included in the box. the photo above I have both SFG as they would be mounted on the wing leading edge left. I have heard the "hatchet" style (one on the left) is "amazing" I am excited to try them out and see for myself.


You will notice that the firewall is not drilled, so any motor of the correct size can be used. The bag O parts has 4 bind nuts with Plywood spacers already attached so you can glue them into place where you need them. I also like how reinforced the motor box is. To go along with all the bracing you see on top the front of the firewall is fiberglass laminated.


Huge improvement over my Extreme Flight Extra is the battery tray. This one is keyed into several of the former and looks much stronger.


This was hard to get a photo of but the landing gear bracing is a C channel of carbon fiber then there are two carbon fiber rods that go through it and through several of the former, It would take a lot to break theses loose.


There is carbon fiber everywhere in this Plane. I was also impressed to see that the pull pull cables were already run and tapped to the servo tray for ease of installation.

Now that I have all the parts out, Lets get to the fun part.


Locate the servo mounting locations on the bottom of the wing (Make sure it is the bottom)


Use a very sharp hobby knife or a soldering iron, I like to use the hobby knife personally.


I like to cut well inside of the opening and leave about 1/8 to 1/4 inch "extra" that I will use my iron to wrap around the opening and seal the edges.


The edges have been cleaned up and I cut the opening for the horn in the aileron.


Using thin CA install the CA hinges. I could not get a photo of this due to lack of hands but what I do is slide everything together, hold the control surface at full deflection and add a couple drops of CA to the hinge, then repeat on the opposite side. A word of caution on this if you use to much CA and it drips over it may glue your control surface to your wing so Just a dab will do ya.


A photo of the gap that I have. I am not worried about this because I tape my joints with Blenderm. This gap gives me full deflection with no interference.


Again I ran out of hands to photograph this step. When tapping the joints be sure to move the control surface to full deflection and apply the tape from the inside trailing edge of the wing down into the gap, then tape the control surface. You want to make sure that the leading edge of the tape wont get caught in the wind and start to peal off. I personally tape top and bottom of the joint, if for no other reason it keeps the dust and dirt from sticking to the tape.


I checked to make sure i got full deflection with no resistance after tapping the joint.


I had to do a little fit and finish to get the control horns to sit in the slot, which I don't mind I would rather them be to tight than loose when I install them.


I prefer to dry fit the parts prior to glue/epoxy it is usually less messy that way.


I chose to use 30 MIN 2 part epoxy for the horns. After sanding the contacting area of the horn I used a toothpick and added epoxy to the gap in the aileron, then added more to the control horn.


Once I slid the horn into place it was easy to wipe up the excess from the joint.
I set the wings aside to dry overnight


Moving on to the landing gear. They included a small open end wrench that comes in handy.


There are no bind nuts and bolts or screws for the wheel pants, though if you want to drill some you could. instead the wheel gets placed on the axle first then the pants get sandwiched between the axle and the carbon landing gear.


It is a little tricky to get these put together with only two hands, a small vice to hold the carbon gear in place would have made the job a bit easier. Using the provided open end wrench and a socket tighten the axle bolt to the landing gear.



I had to remove a very small amount of material from the wheel pant to clear the tire. (mostly because I am a little OCD about friction)



On the bottom of the fuselage there are 2 installed bolts, using these bolts and the provided washers attached the completed landing gear assembly. I used lock tight on these bolts.


The landing gear has a straight edge and a tapered edge. The straight edge is the leading edge (toward the front)


There is a provided plate to clean up the install. I chose to use a couple spots of Welders adhesive here, you could also use sillicone or epoxy if you prefer.


A little overkill but I lightly clamped the parts together.

That is about it for one day, I hope to get some more done tomorrow. Still waiting on the mail man to bring the programming cable for the ESC.

 

[cam4569]

Managed to get a little more work done today:


Removed the covering for the rudder horn


It is a very snug fit. I had to remove some materal from the rudder and sand the horn down quite a bit to get it to feed through the slot


Make sure that the horn is centered


And the holes line up with the hinge line
I could not see how to apply epoxy without pushing it all out due to the tight fit. After reading a bit online I decided to use some thin CA to secure the horn to the rudder. I used the small space in the opening just in front of the horn and pumped quite a bit of CA into it. I then put a few drops down each side of the horn being careful not to let it run all over the covering. It seems to be holding quite well and I don't see it coming apart anytime soon.


To attach the rudder I had to cut the middle hinge slot, for some reason this one was not done.


The graphics line up nicely. Just like the ailerons I made sure to add thin CA to the hinges while the rudder was at full deflection each direction.


Speaking of deflection I think this will get the job done.


I then tapped both sides of the seam with blenderm and ensured that the rudder still moved freely. This adds a slight resistance to the movement of the control surfaces but with the servos I am using I am not at all worried about performance.
Lets get that other wheel installed

The wheel comes pre-assembled with 3 screws in the baggie


Line up the pivot point with the hinge line, center the carbon fiber gear mount and screw into place using the two shorter screws provided. Then center the aluminum arm on the rudder and using the longer screw attached the arm to the rudder. The screw will go about the middle of the slot and screwed down just enough to hold the mount in position, you do not want any drag here as the rudder moves from side to side. I removed all the screws and added a drop of thin CA to each hole. I then assembled the gear and snugged everything down.


Photo after CA and everything is together.


Coming together!!


Using a flashlight from inside you can see the holes that need to be cut out of the covering for the wings, wing tube, wing bolt, horizontal stabilizer, and elevator servo.


The holes are roughed in. I will come back with the Iron and ensure the edges are nice and sealed. The horizontal stabilizer is a very snug fit, The instructions say not to cut the covering on it when you insert and attach it. I am hopping to get to that tomorrow, as well as attaching the rudder half of the pull pull cables which will be easier to work with without the stabilizer and elevators in the way.

 

[cam4569]

Ok its been a bit busy here this week but I was able to get this plane done! lets get to it.

I like having space to work so I figured now was a good time to get the pull pull system started. I gathered the pieces that I would need from the baggie.

I slid a piece of heat shrink onto the cable prior to assembling, then looped the cable though the crimp and the adjustable ball link.

Here is a close up of the loop I use. I run the tag end though the crimp then loop it around and pass it back through again. I like to leave a little space between the crimp and the end link so it doesn't bind up.

No fancy crimping tool for me, I just use some decent pliers and hand strength.

With the heat shrink it cleans up nicely.

Once both cables are assembled i let them hang out of the way. I will add that the cuts in the covering are done at the factory, which is nice one less hole I needed to create.

Next I set up the horizontal stabilizer. I centered the wing tube and used the tube tips to square up the stab. you could also use the roof of the turtle deck and a piece of string or the center of the firewall, however using the wing tube means that the stab in in line with the wing. (in my opinion)

So this step I had to check my OCD. The instructions say not to cut the covering from the stab, rather just apply thin CA over it to bond it to the wood in the fuse. I am a fan of epoxy and the strength it brings, however I could not figure out a way to get any epoxy into the joint, It is far to tight of a fit. I decided to give the CA a try. Above you can see the tip of the CA bottle, I applied CA along that edge and let it wick down. I probably used 1/8 OZ of CA on this stab, maybe a bit more. Again a bit of OCD.

I applied more CA to the other side as well.

I then wicked CA into the joint on each side, being careful not to let it run out onto the beautiful covering. There is a small gap in the fuse in front of the stab, some CA was also added here.

Now that the stab is dry and secured it is time to assemble the elevators. The elevator comes in two pieces with the CA hinges attached. The slot for connecting the two halves is pre machined.

I lined up the right side elevator leaving just a small gap and aligning the covering design as best I could. No glue was used at this point it is just mocked up.

I laid some tape sticky side away from the stab under the connecting "bar" so the epoxy wont run down onto the stab.

Here is the slot that the "bar" will fit into.

Here is the mistake I made. I put a good amount of 30 MIN epoxy into the slot. If you notice the slot that is cut just off to the left of center going up and down. that is where the control horn will go. The epoxy I added seeped into the slot and I had a hard time chipping it out to install the control horn.

I added a bit more epoxy to the "bar"

I installed the elevator on to the bar, and insured the CA hinges were in their slots, again doing my best to line up the pattern on the covering. I wrapped the tape on the elevator to contain the epoxy while it dried.


While the elevator is drying I took the opportunity to install the aileron servos on the wings.

The Savox servos are a bit bigger than the factory cutouts. I had to remove about 1/16" of an inch from either side so they would fit. Not a big deal at all, just be careful you don't slip and cut the covering.

I had to pull the covering back in order to make the cuts.

The servos not fit nicely. I pre drilled the screw hols with a 1/16" bit, then threaded the screws into each hole.

I removed the screws and the servo. I re wrapped the covering over the edges of the cut out. I then applied a drop of thin CA to each screw hole to harden the wood.

The factory has nice little tabs with a string installed to easily pull the servo wire through.

I chose to solder extra length onto my wires rather than use and extension. I also like to tape the wire to the wing so I don't have to fish for it each time I put the plane together.

Now is as good a time as any to cut the openings for the SFG bolts.

I installed the servo and linkage, after setting them to zero. Notice the linkage on the servo arm is below the arm on the wing side. If it is installed on the top of the arm you loose about 5 degrees of downward aileron movement.

I had to cut the elevator servo opening larger to fit the Savox servo. Again not a massive ordeal, just pull back the covering slightly and trim off some fuse then re wrap the covering. I again pre drilled and CA the screw holes.

The servo fits nicely.

The servo cut out for the rudder also had to be enlarged. you can see above on the left side how much material I had to remove.

With the servo installed and centered I finished up the pull pull system.

I attached the cables at the rudder.

I then drilled and installed the servo arm. I used a Savox horn I had laying around, It is slightly larger than the recommended arm.

Using a good painters tape I taped the rudder in the center position. I taped both sides to prevent movement while setting up the cables.

How I set up the length on the initial set up is by installing the ball link with the bolt (just mocked up no need to tighten it down) the pull the cable just snug and mark the cable where it need to go though the eye. Then remove the link and loop the wire.

Once confirmed the correct length has been achieved crimp the crimps.

A little heat shrink to clean up the looks and the pull pull is ready (pending final adjustments pre flight)

The elevator is now dry. I found the slot for the control horn and removed the covering. Make sure you cut the correct side, as there is an opening on each elevator.

It is hard to see but the epoxy had leaked into the slot where the control horn is supposed to go.

After far to much work I was able to cram the control horn into its slot. I applied epoxy to the slot as well as the control horn prior to final assembly. You can see above where some of the epoxy had squeezed out of the joint, however the tape contained the excess and it did not glue the elevator to the stab. Also the photo make it look much worse that it is, in person the glue is barley noticeable.

I used thin CA, set the gap and glued the hinges in place.

Then I taped both top and bottom of each joint.

 

[cam4569]

Time to get the heart of the system installed.
Castle instructions say not to use a zip tie around the body of the ESC to install it. Not to worry they provide a very nice bracket that the ESC securely snaps into.

I decided that the right side of the motor box was the best fit for my set up. I predrilled the holes and hardened them with CA.

Here the screws are installed and the bracket is secure.

I left just a little room for the wires to pass through without pinching them or having any pressure on the ESC. In this location the ESC should receive plenty of air flow thought the vent on the cowl.

I lined up the motor mount on the firewall. The factory did not pre drill the firewall like I have seen with other Extreme flight aircraft, so this must be a 3DHS deal. Aligning the mount was easy though, the center holes are the same size so just place one over the other and mark the locations for your holes.

The bind nuts were a little funky to get set up. They come with the wood "washers" glued onto them making gluing them in place a little odd. Not having an open box behind the firewall made it challenging to maneuver the nuts into position once medium CA was applied. I thought of using thin CA into the joint after the bolts were installed but I was concerned that it would glue the bolts to the nuts.

Motor mount is mocked up.

Using blue lock tight mount the collar onto the rear shaft of the motor.

Also using lock tight mount the propeller shaft to the motor.

If using the Castle Creation BEC you have to use their supplied bullet connectors. Easy to install just as any bullet connector, add a small pool of solder and insert the wire.

I had some technical difficulties and did not get any photos of installing the motor to the firewall but it was straight forward. Mount the motor mount to the motor using blue lock tight then reinstall the mout/motor on the firewall.

To install the cowling first locate the holes that have been pre drilled under the covering in the fuse. There are two on each side. I use blue painters tape but any tape you can mark on will do. Tape the fuse up to the mounting holes and mark the holes on the tape. Then peel back the tape leaving it attached to the fuse but allowing the cowl to be slid under the tape.

Using the tape to hold the cowl in position align the cowl as you like it. Once it is all lined up drill out the marks that you made indicating the mounting holes.

I was pretty impressed with how well the design lined up from the cowl to the fuse.

This was about the largest place on the plane without some sort of pattern so I applied @SupaTim stickers here on either side. I think the white blends into the scheme nicely.

And that is just about it for the build. Final alignment of the control surfaces as well as setting throws and it is all set to go. On a side note there is massive throws on these control surfaces, if this is your first 3D plane you may want to seriously consider reducing the throws via a dual rate switch or just limiting the maximum movement until you are comfortable with the set up. My angle gauge only goes to 50 degrees in each direction and I am well past that on all but the ailerons.

 

[Bipenut53]

It will be a good thread to watch!! Congratulations on a nice airplane, you're going to like it!!

 

[Bushwacker]

Way to go Cam...That ESC is the Talon 90 right? If it is then ya man it works really great with that motor. I run it in my 61" Extra 300LT.

 

[cam4569]

Yes [MENTION=3728]Bushwacker[/MENTION] the Talon. I have heard great things about the CC esc also the used 51" slick I just picked up has a CC installed so I will be playing with the programing on that one as well

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

 

[AKNick]

Nice build, I was wondering when someone would do a review on this airframe! Are the tail feathers airfoiled on this little beast?

 

[cam4569]

Nice build, I was wondering when someone would do a review on this airframe! Are the tail feathers airfoiled on this little beast?

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

 

[AKNick]

Ask and you shall receive! It looks like it most definitely is!! Thanks [MENTION=4379]cam4569[/MENTION]