Well I'm sure it's been punned before but "I've lost my Edge".

It's a long story and I rarely post anything on RC Universe but must say right here it is the absolute best collection of valuable information on RC in the world. I will be brief.


Lanier Edge 540 1.20 with OS 1.60FX. Hitec HS77BB low profile aileron servo's, Hitec 645MG Ultra Torque for the Rudder on pull/pull, Hitec 645MG Ultra Torque on a fiberglass rod running to an MK bellcrank for elevator.
one 6V 1200mah NimH and a futaba FM receiver. Futaba 3004 in motorbox for throttle.

The long and short of it is that, as my first plane that wasn't sporting rubber bands to hold the wing on, I built it by the instructions. WRONG!!!

Five Heartattacklandings of a tail heavy airplane and five accompanying broken landing gear repairs with prop had me ready to dump the hobby altogether. Each event brought some corrective measure in an attempt to find a compromise between balance, weight and radio programming. (research and mfg advice said "other people fly it like that "And "ignore the instructions and fly it"
... "that's nice" I say.

Stock, with servos in tail and, originally, a Saito 180/24oz tank, required 3 lbs of brass in the motorbox to balance the plane conservatively which it really needed to be for a beginner like me to start with (sorry about all those commas). This brought the plane to 15lbs. Between the gas tank and brass weights to balance the plane I actually got it to fly.
Jimmy Doolittle would have been proud to see me lift that heavy beast off on our short field!!! (but damn if it didn't need some rolling room to land and ran off the end of the field and back to the hangar for gear and prop).

Replaced the two servos in the tail, which were originally the HS77BB low profiles because the fuse was too narrow at the cutouts for standard depth servos. Installed an MK bellcrank and one servo adjacent to pull pull and near CG instead of two in tail. Installed OS160 to carry less fuel and have good power, light weight, fair price etc. Pushed the 160 as far forward as cowling would allow without having to sheet and cover and still put about 1/2" between the cowl and spinner. Battery pack in motorbox and stock fuel tank.
(note here...due to the long and narrow fuel tank there was no way the fuel line holding the clunk weight was going to bend and drop the clunk to the front in long vertical dives .I used a heavy clunk on standard tubing and bent the vent tube to avoid the possibility of the clunk catching or looping...then check the clunk often!)

So to sum it up I lightened the plane up as much as I could and moved everything that I could possible move to the front of the aircraft. In addition the stab hinge line was discovered to be out of alignment by about 3/4 of an inch at the tip. Once replaced with stabs that actually may have come off of the same jig, the stab was epoxied.
(It was at this time in my hobby career that I was reading a lot of posts about Building ARF's and all the sentiment there!)

In it's final condition and refusing to add any weight to balance after all of that...I got the CG to about 5.25".
still about an inch away from the conservative...I gave it several more shots.
Props and Landing gear daily for a week. I just couldn't seem to get the hang of landing this thing and in one attempt stalled the wing and slammed it pretty good and knocked the motorbox off.

Prop, Gear, Replaced gears in one aileron servo, Motorbox fix and a long talk with myself, concluding that I am trying to fly a tail heavy airplane and I don't have the experience for this yet. I can hover and knife edge and do all that groovy stuff. In fact for a guy of my experience perhaps it's doing 3D a litte TOO EASY.
so I said "SELF...lets go nose heavy and try it". (and I heard this little voice in my head way back there scream (FINALLY!).

Grabbed a one lb chunk of brass and tucked in the motorbox with battery. CG check at about 4" and took her to the field.

I didn't do an engine on range check and I should have after a hard crash like that. (correction: "...and I should every time I fly")
But, as I typically do, I adjusted mixture at full throttle and checked all surface deflections at all rate settings with full throttle and all seemed well.
(NEWBEES BEWARE: This is where an engine on range check with antennae down could have revealed impending doom! I've "Got the T shirt" now. Never AGAIN!)

It lifted off great! No sudden loft indicative of it's tail heaviness, instead of lifting itself off of the ground it seemed I pulled it off the ground this time and it felt good. Warm Fuzzy all over an... *SHOCK* as at around 150 feet away from me and 15 feet alt., when I was just getting ready to rotate it just roooolllled over nice and slow. It didn't respond at all to input or, if it did, it was really vague.

So I took it home and put the battery on my accucycle and measured the time of discharge at 500mah. It took 99 minutes.
to discharge what was in that 1200mah battery. I can't recall the time it usually takes for a full discharge but it seems that 99 more minutes at 500 mah should have been enough. Check me on this but that is about 750 mah remaining. I guess a thorough check of the state of this battery pack is in order regardless.

I also had been ignoring a throttle rod that ran through the firewall and in part of it's travel would deflect enough to possibly make contact with a metal threaded insert in the firewall nearby.

So in the end I am left wondering what it was and how to be sure...like so many before me.

"Could it have been the throttle rod touching the metal?"
"Did my NimH battery go over the falls?"
"Maybe the Brass caused some interference...but I have flown it with three of those slugs in the motorbox before...Remember the Doolittle Raid?"
Double check that aileron servo I rebuilt...seems okay...a little noisier than the other but refuses to show any anomalies even after the crash.
Lots to contemplate...


Just trying to figure out how I am going to "...get the love back"


I have another Edge and a GSP Katana just sitting here. An OS 160 and a Saito 180.
But I just can't get myself interested.


"Be certain of one thing...you can never be certain of anything"
__my Dad (among others I'm sure)