Donny AKA ShalomarFly 2 ROCKS!!!I recently "discovered" the Extra 300. After demonstrating it to my brother, it's his favorite plane. The ground handling seems to be acting up sometimes. Were there any improvements put out by third parties, like the ones for the J3? I have tried searching he library and forums, but all I got were repaints and threads on TOTALLY different subjects. A few more questions:Locking the tail wheel doesn't seem to help, does it have one? (a lock)Is it just me or is it almost impossible to taxi? Even at low speed I initiate a turn and it just keeps spinning.Is the real thing steered with differential brakes? When I input rudder and both brakes, I get a "differential brakes" message. My trigger is mapped to my brakes.Is there no elevator trim? I wouldn't be too surprised if not, just wondering.Once I do get off the ground, it's a ball to invert right away, then speed up while watching the centerline skim bneath my canopy, then stick forward to be right side up on the reciprocal heading. Once I did a "spit S" into a landing showing off for my brother, touched down at over 100 knots, gotta do it further out next time... Survived, the ground handling problem seems like the J3, sometimes fine. But almost always it acts up on taxi.Any advice, or enhancements available? Thanx:-wave

Looking through some Extra 300 pics, I see that the tailwheel is connected to the rudder with a spring linkage setup. And in a few pics, I see the tailwheel in a full opposite castor, so I'll assume it has a pin locking mechanism to stop the full swivel.As to the model, I don't see the tailwheel moving with the rudder. I also find it very touchy for taxiing, but works with differential braking or some throttle to get air moving past the rudder.At least for takeoff, the torque effect seems quite realistic, with right pedal to offset it. This simulated airplane also lands well. And this is unlike the default Cub, which suffers from an un-known computer syndrome, which makes it nearly impossible to get into the air sometimes...................while being just fine at other times.L.Adamsonedit: Have you tried the freeware Long Island Classics -- Christen Eagle II? Excellent flight dynamics, great VC, and includes smooth gauges thanks to some help from RealAir (guages). Also is very frame-rate friendly.

Donny AKA ShalomarFly 2 ROCKS!!!So it's a technique thing. Thanx for the info, I'll d/l the Eagle tommorrow.Best Regards, Donny:-wave

>So it's a technique thing. Thanx for the info, I'll d/l the>Eagle tommorrow.>Yes, but it still taxi's lousey.....The tailwheel should swing with the rudder.

Hi Donny,Like Larry said, the Christen Eagle is a very good addon, and it's free! As for the Extra, Alexander Metzger has written an alternate airfile and config file that improve it significantly (as he did for the default Cub and several others). Give it a try:http://homepage.iprolink.ch/metzger/index_e.html

Donny AKA ShalomarFly 2 ROCKS!!!That link is a KEEPER srburger! I have all the enhancements installed already, the Eagle is in a temp folder for now, I'm off to Bushnet! (but not with the Extra till I log off)Good advice Larry, it wasn't just the plane cuz when it would start to do something I didn't want my first instinct was to chop the throttle, and I was reducing throttle in anticipation of turns instead of remembering air blast helps. Just so long as I start the turns fairly slow...Thanx again.:-wave

Good timing I think. Check out Airside TV. Two movies for you on the main page1. Red Bull Air Races Longleat UK Round (features the Extra in a few of its models incl the 300S)2. AirVenture 2004 Archive (quite near bottom of page) which includes an interview with Patti Wagstaff.http://www.airsidetv.com/index.htmAndrew Brownhttp://www.gordiusfs.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/

Donny AKA ShalomarFly 2 ROCKS!!!I've been simming on my bro's computer lately, and his antivirus is flagging almost every download from Avsim. Usually I just have to click "download, run" anyway, no problem. But Norton really hates the Eagle. When I try to run the installer I get the message "virus found and deleted" then "installation failed". So I'll wait till I get back to my place to try the Eagle, don't want to modify what he made the mistake of paying for...The mods from srburger's link are great!Off to Air TV!!!Best Regards, Donny:-wave