Aerobeez 78″ Extra 330 Raiden Build Log
Hey Everyone! Welcome to our Step By Step build log for the NEW 78″ Extra 330 Raiden. We have put alot of effort into R&D on this model and used both our experience with the prototype and feedback from our loyal fans to deliver one of the most stunning 3D monsters this year for our 35-55c class. Like previous models, you will notice that the 78″ Raiden has been pre-hinged on all surface areas with exception to the rudder. This helps reduce your build time, but we still recommend that every builder takes the time to spot check all surfaces and apply extra glue when needed.
All steps in this build have been brought to you by our very own team pilot, Orel Elbaz.
Orel’s Setup:
– 50cc Sized Engine
– Hitec HS-7950TH servos on all control surface areas
– Hitec HS-5665 on throttle
– Xoar 22×10
– Gens Ace 2s 3500mah RX pack
Orel’s Pre-Build Recommendations:
Before we start building, be sure to have some lock-tight or blue thread locker. Orel likes to use it on every single screw in the airplane.
Step 1: Control Horn & Push-Rod Prep
Lay everything out on the table before you begin to make sure you have everything.
Locate your wing, stabilizer, and rudder and remove all of your control horns. Once you gather all of the control horns, lay them out in front of you. Using sand paper we will sand the bottom part of the control horn as seen in the picture above. This is done to help create a rough surface that will allow the glue to wood contact be be very strong.
You may notice that four of your control horns are shorter than the rest. These are for the rudder control horns if you decide to run pull-pull set-up.
NOTE: You will not be able to fit two of the regular sized control horns on each side of the rudder for pull-pull, so be sure to set these aside if you plan on doing a pull-pull set-up.
Next locate all of your ball links and linkages, they should already be installed together from the factory. The two shortest ones are for your ailerons, the two medium sized ones are for your elevators, and the longest one is for you rudder.
Slide the control horn plate into two control horns and screw in your ball links to the control horn. Use lock tight for the screws.
Repeat this step to all of your control horns.
NOTE: Orel will be going with the push-pull method in this build in order to get the CG to balance better using a 50cc engine.
Step 2: Preparing Control Surface
Locate the placement for the control horns on the wing. They are located underneath the servo bay on the aileron and a little to the side. Cut the slits open with a knife so that you can slide in the control horns later.
Next slide in your control horn and mark the are around it with a pen.
Now, using masking tape, mask the area around the control horn. This is done to prevent epoxy from geting onto the covering when we glue in the control horn.
Remove the control horn and cut away any extra covering.
Now repeat these steps to all of the control surfaces.
Step 3: Installing Control Horns
Begin mixing our epoxy. Once our epoxy is mixed we can put some epoxy on the control surface itself and also on the control horn, on the side that is going to be inserted into the wing.
NOTE: Orel likes to use five minute epoxy but for this step we recommend using at least a 15 minute epoxy.
Using a paper towel that has been dampened with acetone clean away any excess epoxy.
While the epoxy is still wet, peel away the masking tape an go over that area with a paper towel dampened with acetone. Continue this step to all of the control surfaces.
Step 4: Building & Mounting the Main Landing Gear
First, locate your carbon fiber landing gear, wheel pants, gear cuffs, and landing gear accessory bag.
Test fit the gear cuffs onto the landing gear. Orel likes to do this for fitment as well as to show proper front and back orientation of the gear. The front of the landing gear is the flat side, the rear is a bit tapered as you can see in the picture below. The right side of the gear in the picture is the front. The shortest part of the gear cuff should be in the front of the gear, the rear part of the cuff extends out a little bit more for looks.
NOTE: Do not glue in the cuffs yet!
Now screw in the axle into the carbon fiber landing gear. Make sure to put locktite on the threads of the axle!
Next, gather all four of the wheel collars and take them out of the bag. Remove all of the set screws and lay them out on the table.
Put locktite in all of the collars where the set screw goes in, this is a very important step! Without the locktite the set screws are bound to vibrate loose!
Put the set screws into the collars but do not tighten all the way.
Slide the collar onto he axle, but do not tighten it yet. Put the wheel pant where it is supposed to be in order to determine the distance between the collar and the axle.
Once you have determined the proper distance for the collar to be, tighten the collar. Now slide the wheel and the other collar on and tighten. Repeat the same steps for the other side.
Out of the box the blind nuts are pre-installed into the wheel pants for you. Orel however does not like to put the wheel pants on until later to avoid them getting scratched. So for now, put your bolts in the wheel pants and keep them in a safe place until the end.
Now flip the airplane fuselage over and remove the gear cover. Put Locktite in each of the blind nut holes.
Now slide the landing gear bolts through the landing gear.
Bolt everything in place and make sure that that everything fits together nicely. At this point you can also remove the tape holding the hatch in the back as shown in the picture below.
Lay the hatch out upside down on a table, and with a sharp knife cut away the covering from the slots.
Gather the four screws that will be used to hold the hatch in place.
Put Locktite on the bolts and screw them in place.
At this point we can glue the landing gear cover in place. We recommend using Epoxy for this step, though you may choose to use Epoxy or CA.
NOTE: Orel uses CA, so the choice is up to the builder.
Put your choice of glue on the bottom side of the landing gear cover plate.
Move your gear cuffs to the desired location and put a few strips of masking tape on the bottom of the gear cuff.
Now slide the gear cuff and apply epoxy to the area where the gear cuff will meet the landing gear.
Slide the gear cuff back into place and remove the masking tape. Once the tape is removed, clean up any excess Epoxy.
Repeat these steps for the other side.
Step 5: Hinge & Install the Rudder
NOTE: The kit comes with four hinges but only three slots in the rudder for hinges. While Orel and other pilots have only used three hinges and it has worked out well for them, it is recommended to cut an extra slot on the top or bottom of the rudder for an extra hinge.
Test fit the rudder and hinges to the tail of the fuse and make sure everything fits and spaces out in your desired locations.
Now use masking tape and mask the area around the hinges on the rudder side.
To put the glue on the hinges, i recommend using at least a 20minute Epoxy give you time to work and clean the airplane from any epoxy marks that may happen. Put some Epoxy on the hinge as well as the slot in the rudder. Repeat this step for all of your hinges.
Use a paper towel wet with Acetone and clean around the hinge knuckles that may have excess Epoxy on them. Then remove the masking tape and clean the areas again. Re-apply new masking tape in the same manner as before while the glue is still wet.
Now mask the vertical stabilizer in the same way that we masked the rudder.
Allow the hinges in the rudder to dry for at least one hour and then you can put epoxy on the other side of the hinge that mount into the vertical stabilizer. Also add epoxy in the slots of the vertical stabilizer.
Now slide in the rudder into place and remove the masking tape. Clean the area once again with your paper towl and Acetone. Then tape the rudder and vertical stabilizer together in the same manner as shown in the picture below.
Step 6: Install the Tail Gear
Locate your tail wheel assembly, spring, wood screw, and the three bolts all supplied with the kit. Out of the box, the tail wheel is pre-installed on the tail wheel assembly to help you get your plane flying just a little bit faster!
Now poke out the holes on the bottom of the plane where the blind nuts for the tail wheel have already been pre-installed for you.
Slide the bolts into the tail wheel assembly and put locktit on the threads of all the bolts.
Bolt the tail wheel assembly in place.
Put the end of the spring hole into the hole on the tail wheel assembly.
Stretch the spring until you feel a little bit of tension.
Drill a small starter hole where the end of the spring would be.
With the wood screw supplied in the kit, screw the spring into place using the starter hole we drilled in the rudder.
Step 7: Mounting the Motor
Using your motor template line them up with the lines on the firewall and drill through.
Then locate your throttle push rod (Should be taped to your wing tube), ball link and the other motor installation parts that are supplied with your kit. Orel took the carburetor arm off the engine to make this next step a little easier. We suggest you do this as well.
Now, using locktite, secure the ball link screw into the throttle arm.
Connect the throttle arm back to the engine and screw in the push rod.
Drill out any other holes you may need to make your motor fit, and install your motor onto the plane.
NOTE: USE RED LOCKTITE! Depending on what engine you use, if you use a standard 50cc engine with the stock stand offs the spinner gap will be to far away, so you will need shorter stand offs. This also means that with the shorter stand offs you might have to cut out an opening in the firewall for your engines carburetor to fit.
Next we will cut the cowl to fit your engine.
NOTE: This step will not be needed for some engines, however making some minor cuts to help increase air flow is always a good habbit to get into.
Slide your cowl over the engine and begin cutting away until all of your engine can fit through the cowl without rubbing on any part.
Locate the screw and washer set for your cowl.
Put masking tape over where the blind nut are located on the fuselage and mark the whole with a sharpie. Repeat these steps on both sides.
Slide on the cowl and tighten the two bolts on the inside to keep the cowl on.
Then slide the tape that we marked before over the cowl. Drill where the mark is with a 2.5mm drill bit and put the screws in. Repeat these steps on both sides.
NOTE: Orel only drills out the bottom hole and not both the top and bottom. This is done for convenience and a cleaner look but using both is recommended.
At this point, you now have something that almost looks like an airplane!
Step 8: Installing the Servos
Start by cutting the covering in an x shape where the servos will be located on the wing. Break off the little piece of wood with the string going though it.
Tie the servo extension for your aileron servo to this white string.
Pull the servo extension through. By the white string on the other side.
Now install your servo to the control horn. Remember to use locktite!
Repeat these steps for both wings.
Now cut the servo hole for the rudder and elevators. The rudder servo location is directly under the elevators and the elevator servo locations are directly in front of the elevators on either side of the fuselage. On the right side of the fuselage inside the tail, there is the piece of string used to run the servo extensions to the fuselage.
Tie all of your servo extensions together and run your wires though the fuselage using the piece of string inside the fuselage (Picture shown below)
Now you can install all of your tail servos. Locate all four of the 2.5mm bolts used to hold on the elevators. Connect your rudder servo arm to the push rod. Remember to use locktite!
Put the screws into the elevator tabs on the bottom and put locktite on the screws!
Now install the elevators and elevator push rods on both sides. Remember to loctite all threaded screws!
Now we can install the throttle servo. For a 50cc setup, like Orel is using in this build, the best place to put the throttle servo can be seen in the image below.
NOTE: Placement of your throttle servo may vary slightly depending on motor weight and size.
Locate this piece inside the the motor screw accessory bag. The throttle push rod will slide into this.
Connect your throttle servo to you motor.
Step 9: Install the Fuel Tank
The fuel tank pre-plumbed out of the box so this saves time here. All you need to do is take out the extra o-rings that are in the bottle, make sure the bottle is closed tightly with the o-ring in place, add a little velcro to the bottom of the tank, and strap the tank in place! Make sure to run a vent line outside the plane, and to run the motor line into the carburetor.
Inside the fuselage you can locate this little hole, this is for your fuel dot.
Cut away the covering and screw in the fuel dot that is supplied in the kit.
Make sure to tighten the nut on the inside of the fuselage for the fuel dot.
Run the line from your tank into the fuel dot.
Step 10: Finishing Touches
For the aileron servo extension to make its way into the fuselage, cut a little slit right behind the whole for the wing tube screw. By cutting a slit, this makes the plane look a little nicer without having extra holes.
Now you can go ahead and install your wheel pants.
Also at this point you can install the Side Force Generators (SFGs). You can choose to fly with or with out SFGs, but Orel prefers to fly with them.
There are blind nuts pre-installed in the wing for the use of SFG’S.
These are the screws used for the SFG’s.
You are now complete with your Aerobeez 78″ Radien Extra 330sc!
CG:
Using a 50cc engine with the rudder servo in the rear and a Gens Ace 3500mAh 2s RX pack strapped onto the wing tube i got the CG to balance a little bit behind the wing tube. On the tip of the wing the CG is right in front of the aileron counter balance. I know that this seems a bit tail heavy but i find that this air frame fly’s best with the CG a little bit behind the wing tube.
Throws:
For 3D throws Orel recommends starting off on the elevators and rudder at around 55degrees, and the ailerons at around 30degrees. Orel generally starts off with around 60% expo on the radio. Work your way from these measurements at roughly 5degree increments.
For low rates Orel recommends setting everything at around 20degrees with around 50% expo and work your way from there at roughly 3degree increments.
Orel’s Final Thoughts:
“I personally believe that Aerobeez hit the nail on the head with this airplane! They practically built most of the plane for you right out of the box! I have flown many airplanes, and I have to say that this plane is my favorite all around plane. It fly’s true, tumbles great, fly’s precise, and rolls fast! But when you turn down the rates a bit, it fly’s like a big trainer! Really happy about how this plane came out!Looking forward to flying it some more!” – Orel Elbaz
If you have any questions, please ask!
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Thank you as always for reading our build blog and for your patronage and support.
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