Excepted from Flying Giants Website
DA120 Isolation Mount

If you want the ultimate quiet set up I've personally seen for the DA-120 is the following:

    Hyde Soft mount
    ES Composite Pipes
    Biela 29X10 2-Blade prop (or even Quieter Biela 27X12 3-Blade)

I have been using Merle Hyde's Soft mounts for the last year and am hooked I won't have a Giant Scale plane without it.

John Durant was the 1st plane I saw with it and was sold once I saw it and talked with him about the mounts.

Benefits:

    Absorbs over 60% of damaging vibration to electronics and airframe
    Servo Pots and Gears last 10 times longer
    10-40% less MAH used per flight (I went from 1100mah a flight down to 750mah a flight)
    Much quieter operation
    I'm sure there are more benefits but that is what I can remember off the top of my head (I have over 200 flights on my Yak and not one loose glue joint, worn servo pot or even any gear slop in any of the servos)

Downside:

    Weight. The switch over on my 170cc Yak cost me an additional 6.5 ozs
    You need 3/4" to 1" of room for the mount.



Merle Hyde (Chip Hyde's Dad) Has perfected these mounts and has been making them for years Chip used them on all his TOC planes and Merle told me a story about one time his huge Circus Circus Bi-Plane threw a blade on the prop and Chip circled around noticed something was wrong and landed with Zero damage to the airframe. If it had been a hard mounted engine the engine would have sheared off the motor box and the plane would have gone down. I know this because it happened to me before I knew about the soft mounts.

He does not advertise or even have a website. Most of his mounts are made for F3A Pattern planes which are sold through Central Hobbies. He also makes them for Giant scale but you have to go direct to Merle as they are custom made to order.

I currently have them on my:

    42% ML Dalton DA-170 and Greeves Pipes
    37.5% Pilot Yak DA-170 and RE3 pipes
    35% Edge 540 DA-120 and ES Composite Pipes
    40% SBACH DA-120 (waiting for plane)
    30% Edge DA-60 (waiting for engine)

And slowing converting my fleet over to them.

I just bang around the sky but I was looking to extend the life of my electronics and airframe. He has some customers with over 7,500 flights on the same mount and airframe still going strong.

In fact I think he gives a 3 year 5,000 flight money back guarantee if you don't like it.

He custom makes all the mounts so you can have them for any application.

I have to warn you if you try one you want them for all your planes.

Contact Merle for all the technical info:
702-269-7829
hydesoftmounts@yahoo.com

I agree with you Sandy. Theres no way that I'm getting in front of a soft mounted DA 170!  I like life!
I wouldn"t want to pay for all the cracked pipes either.