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When I got to the field there was virtually no wind to speak of,
so I placed the 3 Cell Li-Poly battery pack into the compartment
on the bottom of the fuselage and attached the power cable.
There is no on/off switch per se, but the electronic speed control
will activate once the power on the transmitter is turned on.
I
gave a quick check of the control throws and to make sure they
were correct. The ailerons seemed to have more physical
throw than the elevator and rudder, but I was not going to make
any adjustments until I got it in the air.
I
placed the plane on a nice piece of grass and advanced the
throttle and watched as she leaped into the air. The
little brushless outrunner has quite a bit of power. More
than I expected from a RTF model. I flew around
a couple laps and made some minor trim adjustments.
The plane was very sensitive on the ailerons and seemed as if
there was not enough control or response on the elevator or
rudder, so I landed and took a look.
I
remember reading on parkflyers.com's website that they have a pro
tip where they suggest cutting off the hinge tape that attaches
the elevator and rudder to the stab and fin with a hobby knife and
reattaching them with a piece of clear packing tape. They
claim that this will make the movements more free and can increase
the control throws. So that is what I did. And
low and behold, it was as if I hit a high rate switch on my
transmitter.
Before getting back into the air, I wanted to tame the aileron
throws a bit as even with 3D maneuvers, there was simply too much.
So I removed the wing and then I removed the control horn from the
aileron servo. The stock setting for the aileron control
rods is in the outer holes of the horn. I moved them in to
the center hole and figured I would give it a test flight to see
how it goes. When you make this adjustment you need to
readjust the clevis on each aileron to center them.
This is where a computer radio would come in handy, with dual
rates and end point adjustments.
This next flight was much much better. The elevator and
rudder had much more authority and I was really able to wring out
this plane.
The
overall flight characteristics of the model are pretty agile.
It is definitely not a trainer, but it is not a big handful
either. I flew all the basic aerobatic maneuvers
including rolls and loops, hammer heads and spins, and they all
preformed very well, as you would expect from any aerobatic model.
(I am sorry I am not spending more time going over the basic
aerobatic performance, but if you read many reviews, especially in
the magazines, they all tend to give the same flight performance -
loops are big and round, rolls are axial, etc. So I am not going
waste your time on these)
3D
flight was a lot of fun. The motor/prop combo on the plane
provided plenty of thrust to hover and accelerate out of a hover.
Harriers and elevators were also able to be performed but the
smaller size of the model made these maneuvers a bit unstable.
Once you get the hang of it, you can correct for the roll to
perform these maneuvers a little more gracefully.
Rolling circles are pretty as was the blender. I
wanted to try a second blender but the battery was starting to run
low and I did not have the climbing power I needed.
Inverted flight was good, but the plane was a bit tail heavy so
you needed to be on the elevator control to keep it from climbing
or sinking. There really is no adjustment for
the CG, as the battery is fixed in the compartment with no way to
move it front or back. So the only way to make
adjustments is to add weight. I was not going to worry
about it as a rearward CG is good for 3D maneuvers anyway.
Overall the plane flies very well and was really a blast.
The Edge 540T performs more like its larger counterparts than it
does a flat-foamy parkflyer. But that is OK, after all you
are flying an Edge 540T that actually looks like an Edge 540T.
See the Parkflyers's Edge 540T in action!
Video 2:
Click Here
(Videos courtesy of Parkflyers.com)
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