any vids of the 260 with mod?

An excellent idea, will get one Saturday.

So far it's been a squirrelly dog.

I just got my E-Flite Extra 260. Compared to my GP 50" Extra 300, this is a light weight. I'm going with a Turnigy 3530 1100KV and try to keep the weight down with a Nano-tec 3S-1600. Rather than beef up the gear mount, I'm going to use nylon 4-40 bolts to break away in a heavy landing.

Will update as I go.

Maiden flight went well for three minutes. It trimmed out with a few clicks on aileron and a bit of elevator. It rolls straight, can loop tightly and is smooth in still air. I test stalled it and made a nice slow, low pass to get the feel for landing.

I went around for a final approach and had a mid-air with the only other plane in the air. I'm ordering a new set of wings. The fuselage is back together. It should be in the air in a couple of weeks.

Re-maidened my rebuilt 260. It weighs 32oz now. But it flys great, tracks well and does all "big air" aerobics just fine. I have not done any 3D. It slows down exceptionally well to land.

Now, if I don't dork it in, it should be a long lasting fun flying hot rod.

Did you reinforce the landing gear area?

Post 94: Rather than beef up the gear, use nylon 4-40 bolts.

If you are going to treat this plane rough on the ground, you will tear up the gear mount wherever the reinforcement ends. Use break-a-way bolts and save the weight.

Better yet, land well and don't worry about it.

Bad news. Pulling out of a power-off vertical dive with very little air-speed, and lots of high rate elevator, it stalled without enough room to recover.

So, I have good wings and empennage (vert. stab, hor. stab, rudder and elevator). I need a new fuselage, cowl and hatch/canopy. I think it's cheaper to buy a new complete ARF kit than just ordering components. That way I'll have lots of spares.

Anyway, it's too nice to be without for long.

The rebuild is 1-1/2 ounces lighter than the original. So, I'm flying with a 2200 mAh battery, instead of 1600 mAh.

Bottom line, it looks and flys terrific. It's built to fly, not crash. Stay one mistake high and land smooth. It's a good blend of quality, performance and economy. You will love it.

All planes are built to fly and not crash aren't they? I would beef up the landing gear area. Of all the ARFs I've flown, that one had the weakest structure in the landing gear area by far. Even the ultra lighweight Precision Aerobatics planes don't need reinforcement there. It's worth just a little weight in lite ply IMO.

Well, I've done it both ways. With beefed up grear structure, the failure just moved deeper into the airframe, as the flying weight went up. Myself and others at our club with this plane have settled on the use of 4-40 nylon bolts for the, otherwise stock, gear mount. But mostly, we land carefully.

Even really hard landings rarely break the nylon bolts. Usually when someone runs off the runway into the rough, at speed, do we need to replace those bolts. And we've kept from adding extra ounces.

I've got about 50 flights on my 260 and am getting the hang of it now after a really rough start. It is a great match for my flying style. It does all the big air maneuvers very well. I'm learning to hover and exploring post-stall, snap roll and flat spinning maneuvers. It's not perfect but it's better than I am - so far.

Love this plane.

Now with almost 100 flights, this is my go-to flyer. Here is a quick summary:

It takes off with 2/3 throttle and just a little right rudder. It stays exactly where pointed and responds instantly to roll, pitch and yaw inputs. It will climb out of sight vertically, while rolling at full throttle and hovers between 2/3 and 3/4 throttle. On high control rates it can be thrown into some pretty violent maneuvers. Landings are smooth with the nose held level and just a touch of power on descent, then chop the throttle and flare carefully at touchdown.

My build:
Wing span: 43"
Wing area: 375 sq.in.
Flying Weight: 32oz w/2200 mAh battery
Wing loading: 12oz/sq.ft.
Power loading: 157 Watts/lb
Motor: Tunigy D3530/14 1100KV, max watts: 315
Propeller: APC 11X5.5" = 38oz static thrust
Battery: NanoTech 3S-2200 mAh, 25-50C
Servos: Futaba S3114

Really happy with my 260

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