Posts: 79
Joined: 6/4/2002 From: Ocala, FL, USA Status: offline
Guys, I have never heard of ChinaKote, but I get the drift of what you are saying. I also noticed when I cut out the servo pockets that the trim overlay was very thick with a ton of sticky adhesive on it. I'm certain some of it is not UltraKote. Like Capt Randy & Silversurfer said above, the black does not like to be shrunk. On the lower surface of the ailerons it shrunk severely with the heat gun. I am not going to use the heat gun on black in the future, just an iron with a sock to better control the heat.
I'll withold judgement on the gear until I have a few more flights on it. But I have the TNT 3/16" gear in reserve just in case. It will add some weight (I'll weigh it when it arrives and compare to the stock gear), but mine is so light that another few ounces won't affect anything except the CG. I'll move my battery packs aft of the tank floor to accomodate that change.
I have appreciated all the inputs on this thread, especially those from Capt Randy who has led us through the build cycle.
Posts: 11533
Joined: 2/25/2002 From: Central, CA, USA Status: offline
I've had both versions of the 28% Edge now, and I don't see any problems with the gear at all. These planes land so slow and light that you really have to try to drop one in. As I've said before, there has never been a set of landing gear designed that will absorb the shock of the worst landings and still be light enough for the plane to fly.
Where the covering is concerned, if you use an iron set to 225 with a covering sock (or old t-shirt like I use) then the covering and sticking/shrinking is not an issue. You may be able to get away with 250-275, but 300 is really pushing things.
Finally got around to taking a pic of the completed Taurus 52 installation to show how well it fits inside the cowl. If someone really wanted to they could obtain a plug adapter and change ignition wires and caps to accept the CM-6 plug and smaller cap for a fully enclosed engine, but that's a lot of money and effort to avoid a small cut out. The picture is crooked because I was leaning over a bit.
< Message edited by Silversurfer -- 2/25/2007 11:25:32 PM >
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If you can''''t fix it with a hammer, you have an electrical problem.
Posts: 11533
Joined: 2/25/2002 From: Central, CA, USA Status: offline
OK, I finally got the new Edge completed. Of the entire plane and all it's changes there's only one item that I would change if I was doing it again, and that's only because I used an RCBlimp tailwheel. On the borttom rear of the fuselage there is a pre made hole under the covering for the insertion of the landing gear rod. For the RCBlimp gear this hole is a little too far forward, leaving the tailwheel to close horizontally to the front of the rudder. If you are going to use an RCBlimp tailwheel and standard tailwheel linkage connections you will want to re-drill that mounting hole about 3/4" to 1" farther aft of where it is stock for better tailwheel steering geometry.
_____________________________
If you can''''t fix it with a hammer, you have an electrical problem.
Posts: 11533
Joined: 2/25/2002 From: Central, CA, USA Status: offline
I tried, Lord knows I tried
In any case, here's some pics of a Taurus engine installation. The part of the engine box over hang I cut away proved to be unnecessary. Had I sanded just a bit more on the standoff-spacer there would be no chance of an interference problem. BTW, the standoff length for a Taurus 3.2 is 7/8". That places the face of the prop hub about 2/32' to 3/32" ahead of the cowl ring.
This standoff was made from two pieces of 3/4" x 2" maple, edge glued together, adding a 1/8" piece of aircraft ply to one side to obtain the desired depth, and later shaped and drilled, and lightened the old fashioned way. By hand. It's a lot lighter than it looks (the sections between the mounting holes have been hollowed out) and makes the engine extremely easy to align and mount. The end result is a reasonably lightweight, very strong, 7/8" deep wood ring, that costs next to nothing.
< Message edited by Silversurfer -- 3/1/2007 6:20:28 AM >
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If you can''''t fix it with a hammer, you have an electrical problem.
Posts: 79
Joined: 6/4/2002 From: Ocala, FL, USA Status: offline
I used a DA50 which required 5/8" standoffs in addition to the 3" metal standoffs. To make this job simple, I laminated a 1/4" piece of light ply with a 1/8" piece of aircraft ply in a rectangular shape to fit the entire firewall. I tack glued this standoff plate to the firewall. Then I followed the instructions on locating the engine inside the cowl. Once the engine was located, I carefully removed the cowl and traced the outline of the metal standoffs onto the plywood plate. Then I drilled the mount holes, fuel line hole and throttle linkage holes through the entire assembly. Once this was complete I removed the 5/8" plate and used a scroll saw to cut oversized "washers" which became the wood standoffs. I then slipped the plywood washers over the mount bolts and CAed them to the firewall. Everything turned out perfect with the engine precisely located and the fuel/throttle tube holes precisely located. This is much easier than trying to use 5/8" washers while locating the engine - it is nearly impossible to get the holes drilled in the proper location.
Posts: 79
Joined: 6/4/2002 From: Ocala, FL, USA Status: offline
Something I failed to mention earlier is in regards to the main landing gear. For some inexplicable reason, the gear mount bolts are metric and it appears that the axles and wheel collars are also metric. The axles were approximately 3/16" but the stock wheel collars didn't fit over them, nor did some Dubro & Great Planes 3/16" collars. So I substituted some Great Planes 5/32" axles and collars and used Hgr 9 Pro Lite 3 1/2" wheels which are drilled for 5/32" axles. I naturally used the metric socket head bolts to mount the gear to the fuselage.
The only other change I made was to use the lower (rudder) servo pockets in the aft fuselage for the elevators. With 1 1/4" servo arms mounted with the tips upward, this yielded a perfectly parallel geometry. It looked to me that if you use the intended upper servo pockets with the servo arm pointing down that the push/pull rods would not be parallel to the aircraft and stabilizer/elevator datum lines. This would result is some differential between "up" and "down". I can't say for sure because I didn't try it. The picture in Step 5 of the Assembly Manual illustrated the parallelism problem and does not appear to represent this airplane so I had use my own judgement on which servo pockets to use. The lower ones worked out perfect!
Posts: 11533
Joined: 2/25/2002 From: Central, CA, USA Status: offline
R.J.,
Since you reminded me, I noted the same things you did regarding the landing gear axles and bolts. The gear mounting bolts that came with the basic hardware worked just fine. Rather than buy new axles I drilled out the wheels I used for a better axle fit. One thing I did note using the metric axles was that there was no appropriate sized wrench in my toolbox that would fit one side of the axles. I tried everything from 10 to 14mm and none were the correct size. Going to American wrenches, from 7/16" to 9/16", none of those were correct for one side of the axles either. Ended up using a crescent wrench on that side.
Moving to the pushrod angles, I've been using angled pushrods for years and have never encountered unequal geometry at the flight surface if the output arm was centered in the actual range of motion relative to the flight surface. The output arm does not have to be installed 90 degrees to the servo for all applications. I suppose it might be better to obtain a perfect 90 degree relationship between all the mechanical components but I've never had an issue with it. The Extra I had flew for a couple of years that way and was still working great when I sold it. The method you used by installing the elevator servos in the rudder openings works great as well. Since I installed the rudder servo aft in the fuselage to offset the weight of a slightly heavier engine the location of the elevator servos was pre-ordained.
Question, did your hardware package come with a pair of hair pin cotters for the small wood wing alignment dowel or have those been eliminated from the new versions? I can't see where they would be needed anymore with the 1/4-20 nylon wing retention bolts but I'm curious. The reason for mentioning is that I did not find them in the "basic" hardware pack. I had a few in my flight box so no big deal either way.
< Message edited by Silversurfer -- 3/1/2007 7:51:11 PM >
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If you can''''t fix it with a hammer, you have an electrical problem.
Posts: 117
Joined: 9/18/2005 From: Locust Grove,
GA, USA Status: offline
I forgot to mention that I attempted to use the metric axles that came with the plane, but as I tightened one of them the threaded part broke completely off the axle. I then used the Dubro axles that came with the WH hardware pack. I remember with the WH YAK that Tom had advised that the hardware that came with the plane was not very good.
I received a pair of hair pin cotters with mine, but they may have been part of the WH hardware pack.
Posts: 11533
Joined: 2/25/2002 From: Central, CA, USA Status: offline
I read something that Tom made note of a few days back that made a lot of sense. The usual screws that are used to hold a canopy in place have always been a sore spot for me because they often loosen up and dissapear in flight. Tom noted using what I recall to be 1/4-20 nylon screws on something or the orther and I elected to give a similar tactic a try on the Edge.
Due to the proximity of the top of the wing to the forward canopy mounting tab, 1/4-20 anything would have been much too large. I installed 10-32 cap head allen screws by removing the blind nuts from the tabs and tapping the holes all the way through for 10-32. After tapping, thin CA was applied to harden the threads, then the threads were chased out again to make certain they were clear of balsa debris. It seems to have worked pretty darn good, and the loose screw problems are eliminated. Some pics included to show why 1/4-20 would not have worked.
_____________________________
If you can''''t fix it with a hammer, you have an electrical problem.
I had to mount the outer Gold-n-Rod tube in the fuse on the Edge. It will spoil ya, cuz you just pull off a piece of fuel tubing, pull out the rod and you're in.
The axles that come with the plane are mediocre at best, I never use them. That's why we put good stuff in the hardware kit. I advise against using them.
The hair pin cotters are also part of the hardware kit. The plastic thumb screws do a much better job holding the wing on, but the cotters are still good insurance.
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RE: 50cc Edge V2 has landed - 
