Eganwp

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Hey guys,

Well the MAIDEN WAS SUCCESSFUL TODAY! This being my first gas plane and giant scale all in one (all I fly are 40 sized glow planes), I could NOT be more impressed. So here's the rundown...

I got the plane fully finished 5am saturday morning. Had a few hours of sleep, got up, packed it all up in the Escape and headed to the field. Of course to my luck the wind was just starting up around noon. It seems we have serious wind every day here in Calgary the last 2 weeks, usually about 40kph in the afternoons. So as everyone was packing up, I unloaded her, and took it to the starting posts. It fired on the third throw with choke, then second flip off. I idled through 2 full tanks (second tank I varied the throttle in the bottom 1/3) and did all my range checking and visualizing. By the time I went though all that fuel it was still really windy and getting pretty late, so I packed up and headed home. Initial break-in went perfectly, though she was a little dirty from being so rich.

So today the wind ended up nearly dying by around 4pm. Before I went out I went over the whole thing with rubbing alcohol and then did a full wax job as I always do. Makes clean-up much easier later on! Arrived at the field and fired 'er up. I did spend a good 2 hours tuning the needles and a bit more high throttle break-in. In between heat cycles I watched my buddy SLATS! maiden his brand new 90 size GP Revolver which flew amazing btw. Coached him in on the faster landings, but he did awesome. I then recharged both 2300 a123's, performed full range check and preflight checklist, and started fueling it for the maiden. Just as I'm fueling it, it starts HAILING along with pouring rain!!! I grab the plane in a full RTF state and run it into our sheltered clubhouse, all while getting just drenched. Luckily no hail damage to the plane as it was just small stuff and majority was rain. After sitting around for 30 mins waiting in the rain, we finally got to out. Only trouble is, now it was about 20 minutes from being COMPLETELY dark.


FLIGHT REPORT
I ran the plane out, quickly triple checked everything and fired her up. BTW on rich tuning the Hawk 22x8 break-in prop I tuned for 7100 RPM rich peak, and about 1800rpm idle to make sure it didn't die on the maiden. I taxied it out and COULD NOT BELIEVE THE THRUST SHE HAS!!! Seriously, 1/4 throttle and the plane is just lurching forward. I quickly checked surface direction while she idled out on the runway like a plane ready for battle. I took off in about 20 feet with 2/3 rd's throttle and away she went! I could not believe how amazing this bird flies! It honestly was easier to fly than a trainer! But I guess it has a lot to do with only weighing 15.5lbs AUW on 1485 sq in. wing. That DLE-55 puts out rediculous power, even on the 22x8 and I literally spent 95% of the flight at 1/4 throttle. I've never in my life flown at a plane that can fly a crusing speed at 1/4 throttle!

Now here's the kicker for you. Just so you know, I'm extremely picky when it comes to trim. A plane needs to fly horizon to horizon on basic trim settings (before full upline/downline, etc trimming) hands off. Well she did just that. 0 CLICKS OF TRIM and she flies as straight as an arrow. I couldn't believe it didn't need a single click of trim on any surface. These chinese ARF's are really built straight!!! Anyway, around and around I flew, I couldn't believe how sensative the surfaces were on low rates. I was using 55% throws of full deflection (aka 25* on each surface, 50* on high rates) and it was responsive as heck. Not overly responsive like it was too far aft CG, but just extremely agile. I did a pile of low passes, and the next basic test was axial rolls. Tried the first few with no elevator/rudder input and I couldn't believe how axial it rolled. I mean it is a mid-wing and should roll very nicely, but wow I couldn't believe it. I even tried flying it at high idle and those wings just kept on flying, no stalls with the straight wing'd Edge! Likely has to do with the high idle and low wingloading though. Tomorrow I will try to fully stall it up high and see how she acts.

After messing around in the air laughing like a little school girl, I decided I better land as it was almost too dark to even see the runway! It took me 3 approaches as I couldn't fly the plane out far enough in the dark background to get a slow enough approach! haha. But on the third one I got it just right and settled her in. I actually landed a tiny bit hard as I thought I wasn't at the gound yet; due to the misconceived depth with the darkness. I was grinning like a little girl! My buddy was just in awe and thought I did a great job for a maiden. I taxied back, messing with the thrust as its almost at the point of rediculous on this plane. Shut her down via opti-kill and told my buddy that that maiden was the funnest flight I've ever flown. No suprises, and it went perfectly. I cannot wait to fly this again tomorrow! I told the wife I'm going to be out flying this bird every day this week! haha. I'm 100% sold on gas, and specifically the DLE-55, as well as giant scale. The thing is so huge for a 30% plane (88.5" ws, 85" long) that it's presence in the air is a completely different experience from my small glow planes. I couldn't believe the DLE 55 didn't skip a beat during all her break-in and testing/tuning. I can tell it's already starting to really pick up compression since her first turn-over.

All-in-all I couldn't ask for a better 3D giant bird. Such a light wing loading and tons of power up front, I think this plane is gonna be a real treat to fly and own. Not to mention I've always wanted and Edge, and with such a nice color scheme and over-all look, I couldn't be more impressed. Not to mention I got it to my doorstep for $800 as a package deal with the DLE-55, I'm 100% sold on Peak Models. Excellent service, excellent price and one freaking excellent Edge 540. I know I kinda went out on a limb buying this completely unreviewed plane, though I did find a couple youtube vids for the version 1 of this plane. Figured this version 2 could only be better! I'm going to start in Basic IMAC shortly here as well this year. Boot camp is only 2 weeks away! Can't wait. I've got lots of trimming to do before then.


If I manage to get out tomorrow, I will give you guys a FULL flight report once I get a few more tanks through her and can put the Edge through her paces. I honestly couldn't be happier with this plane. Having seen all these 19lb Aeroworks planes at our club, I couldn't be happier for the price/performance/weight. I even had our club president going around all excited telling everyone how my new 30% Edge only weighted 15.5lbs while I was breaking her in yesterday, lol. Really makes you happy! haha. Crash I hope you like yours as much as I am! Good luck on your maiden!


SETUP
All my components for reference:
2x a123 2300 RX/IGN cells (I swap in 2x 1100mah a123 cells for hard 3D if desired) w/ Deans out, JR balance taps.
1x New 42% Zeus which includes switch, opti-kill, selectable IGN voltage (I chose 5.2V), eliminates IGN battery pack, IGN light, etc.
1x Fromeco Wolverine dual failsafe switch w/ charge jacks (I've wired it all to charge the packs in the plane w/ balance tabs as well), dual input single output 18awg Deans.
1x Spektrum AR7000 (using dual JR power input from Deans on Wolverine)
1x DLE-55 w/ stock exhaust & stand-offs
1x DLE Ignition
1x Xoar 23x8 PJM
1x 4" aluminum spinner (may go carbon fiber here in the future)
5x Power HD9150 MG .18sec 220oz digital servos
1x Power HD90 MG .08sec high speed digital throttle servo
4x 1.25" MPI aluminum arms
1x 3" MPI rudder arm
1x 550cc Stock tank, 3 line setup w/ tygon and BUNA line inside tank
1x Aluminum Fuel DOT

I'm running 50-55* of throw on all surfaces. CG is coming it at 31% MAC (For maiden, will fine-tune later). I built all a123 packs myself for ~$12ea for 1100mah a123's, and $22ea for 2300mah a123's. I also built all custom length extensions, all 22AWG except for 18AWG on battery/switch. Balance taps on packs are 22awg JR, with 18awg Dean's leads for power. Using most of the included ball-linkage hardware, but didn't use the supplied aluminum bolt-on arms. I also swapped 2 lengths for titanium ones on ailerons for easier throw adjustment (opposing thread directions on the titanium linkage).


Here I few picks I snapped today before going out to maiden:

Eganwp

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More pics!

Cheers!
Eganwp

T3beatz

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Great flight report and maiden Eganwp!! the pics are awesome too... Where did you get that Hawk prop from? thats what I want to try on my DL-55 for break in, I here they are pretty good props for a nice price. The setup on my Yak-55 is pretty much the same as yours, Power HD servos and DL-55. Hope to hear more about your flight tomorrow.[8D]

Eganwp

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Thanks T3! I actually got the Hawk 22x8 prop from Peakmodel's in China with the plane when I ordered it. It was only like $25 or something cheap, so I figured I'd just throw it in and use it for a break-in. I've got a XOAR 23x8 sitting here ready once I switch to synthetic after break-in. I was actually really impressed with the build quality of this Hawk prop for the price. It took absolutely 0 balancing on the tips, though I did have to slightly balance the hub with velcro/CA. Performance comparison to the XOAR and/or other props will have to be compared once I've flown those as well.

Travis

Slats!

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Egan, Don't forget to charge your batteries this time haha. I have never seen someone run so fast with a 50 cc in their hands when the hail started LOL.

In all seriousness the plane looked great. Light and powerful and there was no click of trim needed which was pretty amazing.

Slats!

JoeAirPort

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Nice pic's. That thing is nice and shiney !!! Colors really show up in your pictures. Congrat's on the maiden. Good thing you weren't flying when it hailed.

sandyjain

Congratulations Egan for a successful maiden and a wonderful build series. I am building the same kit myself in New Delhi, India with a DLE55. I have a few q's if you can find time and answer:

1. There is a strip of black rubber in the hardware kit. This strip has some round grommet kinda thingys - 18 in all. Do you know what these are ?

2. Did you use the kit M4 control horns ? If yes did you use a washer or something on the side of the CSK bolt head. The nut on the other side is knurled on the face and seems Ok but the bolt head being CSK is likely to dig into the wood when tightened.

3. what oil and in what proportion did you use to break in the DLE? I have lawnboy ashless and was planning on a 1:32 mix for the 1st gallon.

4. Are you using a manual choke or thru a servo?

I have hinged my surfaces and mounted the servos in the elevators. The hinge line was correct and I have had no problems. I am planning to use the kit AL arms on stock servo horns. Would love to use MPI but will take too long to order and get from the US.

For power and redundancy I am planning to use 2 A123 2100 packs and powerbox evolution expander. I have the RcEXL optokill and will use with a 4 cell NiMh pack on the ignition. I am using 5 Power HD DS120M servos and a standard servo on the throttle.

For break in I will use a 22 X 8 as you suggest and then move on to a Vess 22 or 23 B.

Please advise if you find the above setup to be OK.

Regards

Sandy Jain

Eganwp

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Hey Sandy, sure I'll glady answer you questions.

1. There is a strip of black rubber in the hardware kit. This strip has some round grommet kinda thingys - 18 in all. Do you know what these are ? These are rubber grommets for the bolts that go into the cowl. You shove the bolt through the little hole and break the rubber on the other side. Then drill your holes in the cowl big enough to accept the little rubber grommet end. I also used them on the tops of the surfaces for the control horn bolts too (it was my own design). What I did is countersink the hole to accept the size of the screw head first. Then I attached a rubber grommet and bolted it down. This looks MUCH better on the surface IMHO. Do whatever you like with them though!

2. Did you use the kit M4 control horns ? If yes did you use a washer or something on the side of the CSK bolt head. The nut on the other side is knurled on the face and seems Ok but the bolt head being CSK is likely to dig into the wood when tightened. Nope, didn't use a washer. Head itself and the rubber grommet distributes the forces fine with a counter-sunk hole. If you don't counter-sink I'd look at doing the washer job.

3. what oil and in what proportion did you use to break in the DLE? I have lawnboy ashless and was planning on a 1:32 mix for the 1st gallon. I went with about 31:1 (just about 10 more ml's oil than 32:1. 30:1-32:1 is fine, and is recommended for these DLE-55's. Personally, I don't agree with Lawnboy ashless and the properties/break-in of that oil but that's just me. I've worked with small engines all my life (mostly dirtbikes/snowmobiles) and you don't want to rush break-ins. Nor do you want to use a synthetic and say your "Breaking-in" your engine, because you're not breaking it in properly.... I wont get into it and start a war, but basically any high quality dino oil for 2 cycle air-cooled engines is best. Lawnboy ashless "accelerates" break-in by causing more wear than other oils. It's not bad and will work fine for you if you have it, but it's just my personal preferance not to use the stuff. Do note that it is a lot better than synthetic oil for break-in though! Even the mechanics around here don't agree with going synthetic too early, nor using lawnboy ashless. Also, I'd run more than 1 gallon on dino oil before switching to synthetic. Ringed engines don't break-in like ABC glow engines do and take MUCH MUCH longer. I would wait until the 2-5 gallon mark before switching over.

4. Are you using a manual choke or thru a servo? Manual. KISS = winner IMHO. Plus I didn't have a spare channel to have the option! lol

I have hinged my surfaces and mounted the servos in the elevators. The hinge line was correct and I have had no problems. I am planning to use the kit AL arms on stock servo horns. Would love to use MPI but will take too long to order and get from the US. Stock bolt on aluminum arms will be fine. Just use a bit of caution and don't do things like full power blenders or you might strip a plastic arm. Really hard to say though. I love the MPI aluminum, but the stock ones will work fine.

For power and redundancy I am planning to use 2 A123 2100 packs and powerbox evolution expander. I have the RcEXL optokill and will use with a 4 cell NiMh pack on the ignition. I am using 5 Power HD DS120M servos and a standard servo on the throttle. Just a note here, and maybe just a typo on your end but there's no such thing as a 2100mah a123 pack. Either you mean a traditional LiFe battery with 2100mah, or you mean genuine 2300mah a123 pack. Both work fine, but I prefer a123 racing cells better. For our application of just powering servos, either work fine.

For break in I will use a 22 X 8 as you suggest and then move on to a Vess 22 or 23 B.

Please advise if you find the above setup to be OK.

Sounds fine dude! You'll want to consider about how or if you're going to charge your a123's in plane or not. And balancing... Took me a LOT of research to come up with a perfect setup. Otherwise, just charge outside the plane.

Egan

Crash-n-Burn

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Great report Egan mine is finished I was going to maiden today but I had a horrible headache so I will try for tomorrow. It looks like my all up weight is gonna be 16.5 pounds. It a bit heavier than yours prob b/c of the DA / regs / receiver but @ that weight the wing loading is still 25 ounce/ft so it should float like a fly. I guess I could get it a bit lighter probably down to 15.9 or 16 pounds if I went w/ A123's but I have a ton of Li-ion stuff so instead of spending a bunch of cash I'll just fly what I got. Also thanks fo the advice on the CG I set mine @ 5.5 inches from the LE. I am going to post some pics later of the final install. I did run it up today w/ the Zeus IBE and it worked great.

Crash-n-Burn

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Here are some pics:

>> Yes I know I need to loop my vent, I forgot

Crash-n-Burn

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Some if the IBE

stangman67

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Eganwp,

Hey where did you get those black velcro looking wraps from? i know I have seen them before but not sure where at. Thanks

T3beatz

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See Dan those canopy screws just make it pop! looks good!

sandyjain

Thanx VVM Egan. That was very informative and re-assuring.

Regarding the grommets I thot about the same but your idea of CSKing the holes in the surfaces to accept the bolt heads is very good - I will certainly do that.

I have gone to gr8 lengths to get the LawnBoy !! - so will go with that 1st and then follow up with other 2 Stroke mineral oil available in India for few more gallons and then switch to synth - Motul 800 - being the only 2S synth available in India.

KISS is what I like and will go with manual choke - maybe bell crank it and bring it down by 90* i.e. underside of fuselage.

How do you bolt on the stock arms on the plastic servo arm ? I find some screws surplus in the kit and also some bolts. Also which plastic arm should one use ? the 90* cross one ? Only in this one do the 4 holes in the AL arm align up properly. I know you have not used them but but any ideas ?

The 2100 mah was a my ignorance !! Just checked - I have A123 and they are 2300 mah.

I have not yet thot about the charging biz. Let me give it a thot - I hope that the powerbox has charging jacks. I also have a SmartFly Sports Reg but dunno if it can take A123's - it is more suited for LiPos.

Thanx once again..and I will keep you posted on my build progress. Have a great time with your baby and keep posting pics n vids....

Crash-n-Burn

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Okay guys After some serious Shenanigans I got 2 brief flights in today. The sun was fading I really didn't have time to trim it out properly but I can tell its way tail heavy so I will need to address that. CG @ 5.5 inches from LE is apparently perty far back. That being said I can basically sum it up with 2 words ........

HOLY CR@P !!!!!!!

With a DA 50 this plane is a space ship !!!!!!!! its an absolute monster in the air, it floats like a leaf @ 16.5 pounds and it punches out of a hover with a Vess 23 A like a raped Ape. Just unreal performance. I spent 95 % of the flight at 1/4 throttle, full bore is just insane. I cant comment on precision ect. due to the fact that the CG is way off but good lord this thing was worth every penny of 500 bucks.

T3 got some limited flight video that I will get him to upload. Nothing nuts b/c i am still getting my motor dialed in. I will give a more detailed report once I get all the details ironed out but wow this plane is psycho !!!!

T3beatz

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YeaAAAY!![sm=thumbup.gif] I was there and this plane/engine was ballistic! I'll post the video as soon as I can, I just woke back up from a short nap (I've been up for about 24H, I work nights and I really wanted to get out to the field for this one).

Eganwp

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Haha excellent to hear guys! Your maiden sounds a lot like mine! TONS of power and spent most of the flight at 1/4 throttle, lol. Glad it went well for ya.

I was gonna tell ya before you went up that I tried an inverted 45 upline and mine was way tail heavy at 32% MAC as well. Figured I'd harped on ya enough though. Climbed inverted towards the tail hands off on that 45 upline. I'm actually right now working on getting some weight up front, mainly a spinner as I didn't have it on before. It was actually so tail heavy that 1 click of elevator trim I tried made the plane jump, lol. She sure has a lot of power though hey? I can't wait to throw on the XOAR 23x8.

Nice to see 2 of these birds in the air! Whose next? O.o Post up your video when you get a sec! I'll take a video next time I'm out as well.

T3beatz

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The Video!! there is a little cursing in the video (there was a guy pretty much standing on the runway and Dan did not like it at all!) The video is unedited. Oh, and there are some parts that I was messin around and missed the plane.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-S3S4AGQl8A

dopeaddict

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hey guys,
I am getting ready to maiden my Edge. Its the earlier version from peak, with the different trim scheme. As far as I can tell structurally it looks identical to this one. Egan, Crash-n-burn, my question is what CG did you end up with, or recommend for initial flights. I have a MT57 on mine and was wondering if I should go with the stock muffler (v. light, abt 4oz) or my home made cannister muffler (not so light! -abt 14-15 oz). If it turns out to be tail heavy with the stock one I might be able to use the cannister. Thanks.

sandyjain

This is my version, bought in India, but seems like the ones offered by Peak Models.

dopeaddict

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Sandy, I have the same version. bought from RCD. Btw I am in Delhi these days, sent you a pm.

Eganwp

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Dope, just make sure you're somewhere near the recommended COG. 118mm from LE, that's 27% MAC. With my setup I knew I was behind that (around 31% MAC) and that's definately tail heavy.

Eganwp

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Nice video guys! Sounded and looked great! Mine was too tail heavy to do much more than circuits and rolls on the first 2 flights. Cut my spinner last night and am going to see how that pans-out on the CG.

Good luck to you other guys on here as well with your builds! Some of you have the version 1 of the Edge I see (old trim scheme). Do you guys have aluminum gusseted LG blocks on the older version? I'm interested what all is changed. CF tubes?

Crash-n-Burn

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man guys sorry about the cussin in the video but this knob job was flying his electric plane standing smack in the middle of the runway ! It was really pissing me off b/c i was trying to trim the plane in and who knows what can go wrong in the first few flights sometimes you need to land quick. That dude was dumber than a sack of hammers sorry again just lost my cool.

CNB

stangman67

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Wow, the guy was literally on the runway! Im surprised he didn't get the hint when you buzzed right over his head. "Hes gonna get a face full of Vess 23a" , that line made my day. Great looking plane man.