mswify

Hi guys,
What u think of the Great Planes Edge 540T - EP?

erieqc

I just bought one yesturday I will recieve next week. I decided that I was going with the 42-50-1000kv motor and a castle cereation 60 amp esc. I also plan on running A123 for power on this plane. I have'nt figure out if I want to build 4 or 5 cell packs yet I'll have to figure out the weight differance. This is the reason I went with the bigger motor. As I build I will And to the thead and let everyone know how it goes.

erieqc

Here is an excellant article on this plane http://www.rcuniverse.com/magazine/a...rticle_id=1080

stiltman

I'm building my second one now. The first crashed due to complete radio failure. This one seems to have been manufactured more hastily than the first. The wooden piece that has the magnets on it in the cowl that holds the cowl to the fuse wasn't glued in well at all. Also, the cutouts for the elevator in the fuse are poorly done. Like I said the first one didn't seem to have those issues. hopefully this one will fly as well as the first.

erieqc

As promissed I recieved my 540T it took a little while. It was shipped out of California. I open the box and I was impressed I inspected everything this is the first ARF I have ever bought that didn't need to be gone over with the heat gun or iron there were no inperfections or bubbles on the MonoKote, I was suprised. I started on the wings the ailerons they are already attached to the wings but for my own safety I added a little thin CA just to be sure. I'm using 2 Hitec HS 85BB servos for the ailerons I had a problem with the first pull sting it was hard to pull loose threw the servo hole and before I new it I pulled the other end loose my bad. I finally feed the sting back threw and started to feed the servo wire threw. I got to the servo extention conector I use shrink wrap on all of my conection so they wont come apart and it was a little time consuming to get that fead threw but it all worked out. The other wing went just fine.
Installing the control horn and the mounting plate were very easy if you have done these before it was a peice of cake. Along with the clevis and clevis rod. The carbon fiber anti rotating pin went in very easy I used thick CA on this so it would give me time to make adjustments if need be.
Next was the main landind gear. It is very strait forward went very fast the only problem with this was the wheel pants. The screws they sent with the kit to fasten the pants to the landing gear arm are to long and not enough of them. When you use the screws that are sent in the kit they screw into the foam tire. I could of shortened them up by cutting them off but I didn't have enough of them to do that eather. I hope Great Planes takes a look at this and address it. So far this has been a joy to put together.
I have under a hour on this so far. Sorry about my spelling I was'nt very good at it in school. Iwill be addind more in the near future.

erieqc

Here is a little back ground on me . I am not being payed or compensated by Great Planes In no shape or form. I've only been in this hobby for 4 years and have only built 5 arfs so far. So I do not claim to be a master at this nor will I. I just want to give the average Joe an honest opinion on this plane before you plop the money down. I figure if I can build this plane than an average person can to. So if you have any questions please feel free to ask.

erieqc

Now on to the tail gear. It went easy the rudder is already attached but for safety I applied some thin CD to the hinges. The only thing I didn't like was the wire that runs from the rudder to the nylon tail gear bushing I don't know if this is going to be heavy enough or not.

onewasp

It should be more than enough.

erieqc

Now for the stabilizer. To make sure the wing and the stabilizer are parallel I set the plane on the floor in the cradle and measure both wing tips and make sure they are the same and then I mesure the stabilizer the same way. It might be over kill but I don't have to second guess myself at something that looks parallel and might be 1/8" off. Eyes aren't what they use to be. Then I measured from the wing tips to the stabilizer it said to measure from the center of fuselage I figured this was better to do it the way I did I can hook my tape measure on the tip of the planes wing a little more acurate mybe not. I marked it and then cut the covering with a sodering iron. Put it all back together then glued it with 30 minute epoxy. Don't forget the elevator joiner wire, guess what I did it took a little bit but I got it in oops.

erieqc

I fastened the elevators the one thing I wish I would have done first is taken the elevator joiner wire and pre fit it in the holes and slots before I inserted at the back of the stab saddle. Hide sight is always good this is why I decided to do this thead to help others out instead of paid auther from a magazine doing it. I don't have to sell anything or have to keep my job or make model manufactures mad if its junk its junk. So far I'm very happy and pleased with this model.
I also figured out my wheel pants by process of elimunation of the hardware sent with the model so they are mounted and ready to go. I was a little confused then I saw the light. I also mounted the motor which is the RimFire 42-50-1000 Out-runner becuase of the weight of the A123 batteries. It went well also. Sorry I build slow but I work long hours but I guess I'm fortunet to have a job rihgt now.

erieqc

Sorry I'm a little slow but I spent the weekend in Toledo at the show I got to meet a lot of nice people and I also talked to Great Planes reps a little about this plane. Lets move on I opted to put the rudder servo in the rear of the plane so you can see by picture #1 that I mounted my reciever on a piece of light ply and put it were the rudder pull pull servo went. I cut the covering for the elevator servo and then had to sand a little to get the servo to fit mine were just a little to long no problem. Mounting was no problem then it came time for the control horn using the 2-56 x 3/4" machine screws they were a little short they could have been 1/4" longer so I putsome thick CA in the holes and on the back plate and made them do. I then moved on to the rudder servo and cut the covering and sanded again and went to put it in and the servo ended up hitting the other servo on the other side so I decided to use the sevo retaining plates included in the kit picture #2 and put them under each servo and that gave me enough clearance so they both would fit. Same thing on the rudder the machine screws were to short so I did the same thing to these. Once I had the rudder control horn mounted I turned the rudder back and forth and as you can see I going to have to trim some of the control horn off to get full throw out of it . I'll let you know how that turns out .

erieqc

I'm finally done sorry it took so long if an average builder were to build this plane I would say it would take 6 to 8 hours build time and then you have you balance and trim time. I took my dremel with a cut off wheel and cut 2 holes out of the control horn on the rudder to make that work picture #1 I also had to put longer servo arms on in order to get the full control throw needed for 3D they want 42 degrees on the elevator and 45 degrees on the rudder. I put the decals on that I wanted and made a few of my own to personalize it. Added the A123 battery and balanced the plane I did'nt have to no weight to it it balanced out perfect. I will get the weihgt of the plane and wing load I forgot the scale at work. Here are a few more pictures to go along with it.

erieqc

I have the weight of the plane including a 4 cell A123 battery and a Rimfire 40-50-1000 kv motor and a Castle Phoenix-60 Brushless motor control and a Castle 10 amp switching regulator. It comes in at 1623 grams or 3.58 pounds or 57.3 oz. The wing area is 490 in2 top weight is 3.5 pounds I'm .08 pounds heavier so all in all the plane is a little heavier with the A123s but the trade off with these batteries I think will out weigh the weight facture of this plane.