Hi all,

This winter begins my 6th kit (this time a short kit). Perhaps if this one actually flys, I might try a scratch build one day. It's an Edge 540 designed and packaged by Doug Lee in Pheonix (D&L Designs) and is offered as a plan or a "short kit" which is what I purchased (the plans, canopy, main landing gear, wing joiner tube and laser cut parts which consist of formers for the fuse, wing ribs and ply parts for the firewall etc...). I purchased a large box of balsa, spruce and ply from Sig Mfg, and Fiberglass specialties makes the cowl and wheelpants. For this project I plan on using all Futaba radio gear and although I haven't decided yet, I'm leaning towards a DL-50 engine.

I started with the wings first. The wing ribs have tabs to make the assembly process easier and without a jig. The holes for the wing tube, pins and servo wires are already cut in, and the end of the wing that attaches to the fuse has a 1/16" ply "end rib" with the holes (for the wing tube; dowel pins and wing bolt) lined up perfectly with the fuse side doublers. The entire wing is sheeted with 1/8" balsa. So far no real surprises. Comparing this to an Extra ARF I have, this looks like it will build on the heavy side. The plans call for 14-1/2 to 15-1/2 lbs; hopefully I get there.

One thing highlighted in the building notes was to line the spruce wing spars with carbon fiber to add strength. I never worked with the stuff before, but I had the hardest time getting out the splinters!!!