Ray,

>>You guys talking about buying stuff, and then not using it. I would hate to think about all the stuff that I have bought for my Planes that I thought that I would use, and never did. This stuff I needed so bad just lays in boxes untouched. I did manage to get rid of 6 Planes over the summer, and several boxes of stuff that I wasn't using. I had airplane stuff that I had bought that I didn't even know what it was for, or why I bought it. Just to say I had IT i guess...........................whatever IT was.LOL<<

LOL That's my "I'm going to sell this s**t one day box". trouble is that I forget what's in the box. Today I almost ordered a Futaba micro to micro buddy cord. Good thing I didn't, because I found one unwrapped in my IGTSTSOD box. I bought it when what I needed was a round to micro cord.

See my earlier post about the reason for two batteries. It's not flight time between charges.

jon

I read it. I was just basically commenting to why I havn't switched over to the Bigger and Better NIMH Batteries yet. I understand what your Battery issue is. In my opinion, if running a two pack system gives you a better sense of security, and you feel better flying the Plane knowing that you have backup, then I see no problems at all with doing it. Your not going to up the wing loading that much by adding a few extra ounces. Better to have something like that and never need it, then to not have it, and one day something happen then you wish you had it. It may be deamed an unnessasary expense to some, and I personally would not go through the extra expense, but it is not my place to tell someone how to spend their money. If it is worth the added expense to you, then I would say set it up, and then lets see some neat photos of it. Ive got probally 1/2 lb of lights and extra batteries on one of my Planes. Most people would not put all that lighting in their Plane due to the weight factor, but I like them on the plane, and with a ton of flights on it, I still havn't crashed it................................................ .................................................. .................................yet.

I have quite an assortment of buddy cords to. I even bought one of those new ones that is supposed to go from a JR to a JR or a JR to Futaba. Something I had to have, but will never use, and not to mention that all 3 of my Radios, and all my recievers and servos are Futaba. The Futaba Round to Round I have gets used, and the Futaba Round to micro I have gets used, but tell me why in the world did I need a JR to anything?LOL

Hey Ray,

I'll take that Jr to Futaba cord. I am in the process of switching my rx's to use my Jr PCM10SXII and Jr 8103 radios. I will be selling/trading my Futaba 8UHPS and three of the four rx's that I have. But I am keeping my Futaba 6EXA and a rx so that I can get one of my brest friends started in our great hobby. If you ever decide to sell that Jr-Futaba cord, let me know and we can work something out.

Gotta get ready to go to the Monster Truck show in the Superdome. Talk to everyone later.

Ray,

Result of today's experiment: You can fly R/C airplanes with a numb mouth. I had a root canel scheduled for this AM. I hitched up the plane trailer before I went to the dentist and went to the field afterword. How this relates to the Vector Flight Edge 540, is that I once again mentioned that I was awaiting the delivery of a new plane to the "in group". They ask who makes it, and give blank looks when I say VectorFlight.

Go Falcons!

jon

RC
Ya it suprises me to that there are so many that have not heard of VectorFlight. You would think that good news would travel faster. If they wasn't anygood I bet everyone would know about them. That seems to be the way things work.

I not even sure how the darn thing works because with the Futaba Buddy Box you have power off, but with JR you have to have it on. Does that mean you have to have the futaba buddy box on to buddy with a JR? To confusing for me. Just PM your address sometime and I will drop the cord in the mail to you. Use it as long as you like, and when you get done training your buddy you can just drop it back in the mail to me, or just tell me you lost it. It really not that important to me. Just one of those things I bought, just to buy. You have probally seen them before but here is the photo of it. It has a little chip board inline. That must be what makes them compatible. Anyway, you are welcome to it Gary.

Ray,

>>Ya it suprises me to that there are so many that have not heard of VectorFlight. You would think that good news would travel faster. If they wasn't anygood I bet everyone would know about them.<<

VF seems to be selling their planes as fast as they can make them. Maybe we should not talk them up too much <g>.

Saw some good pics of your VF on another thread. Nice!

jon

Wonder how long it would take me to cover my edge to look like this.LOL I just thought this a neat scheme of the full size.

Ok guys... I just want to give you the latest on my plane. I finally finished cutting the cowl and getting everything fit. I installed the RX just infront of the wing joiner on the bottom. For the cowl I just need to pretty it up and start drilling the holes for the screws. With my previous experience with cowls i had a lot of cracking where the screws were so i layed fiberglass all around so when i drill the holes for the screws it wont start cracking with stress. I scrached the paint on the cowl pretty good while trying line up a hole for the highspeed needle so im going to spray the inside with some of the topflite paint to fuel proof it / cover the scraches a little.
As for the exhaust that i was working on for a while i came up with a little solution. I just pointed the muffler towards the inside so it will spray out the bottom. Looks pretty good and i didn't have to hack the cowl up that much.
Here is some pictures. I used my cell phone camera, hense the crappy resolution. Just a little lazy setting up the real one.

Ray, dont you love the zivco edge. For the last year i was completely in love with the edge. I collected every picture i could find. My room is covered. I painted my 3dfoamy edge the same scheme as the picture below. And after i saw the VF edge was very simular i just had to get it.

rc, on your muffler install, I assume you used an extention. From the pic it looks like it comes out the bottom on the left side. How did you attach the extension if you did use one. on my Saito 82 I tried everything to get the extension to stay on, but the section of the muffler you attach the extention to is so short and a bit tappered that th zip ties did not work. I tried using high temp silicone caulk and that worked for awhile but it still fell off eventually. Any suggetions would be great. Thanks. [8D]

RB
I used a rubber extension on mine also. Mine seems to hold on pretty good with just the zip tie. I did ruff up the tip of the exaust though with a little piece of sandpaper to help it grip better. Another thing I have seen done to is to tie the extension off to something that restrains it from moving forward or backwards. Something else I am going to do to mine that I havn't done yet is to attatch a steel fishing leader to my exaust, and then attach the other end over to the firewall. This is just a safety wire to prevent the muffler from falling out of the Plane should it ever come loose. You can see my extension hanging down in this photo. Something about that last sentence just don't sound right! I should say, the Planes extension, and not mine.lol

I was just reading through my last post, and it reads like something you might read on a porn site. Ruffing it up with Sandpaper!.....................OUCH! and double OUCH!

RC
Man it looks like you done a great job with your exaust. Looks like you done a good job getting your holes in the cowl cut just right also. Nice work!

Ron,

Don't know if will work for this application, but I finally hit on a fail proof muffler extension for my 46 engines. I bought brass tubing at the LHS that will slip over the end of the muffler and cut the appropriate length. With the Dremel, I cut 4 slots parallel with the tube from the end to about 1/2 inch back. I then used the smallest hose clamp I could find (the kind you tighten with a screw). You can even put a little bend in the tubing if you want.

jon

Nice extensions. Is that a Super Tiger Muffler shown in the one photo? The reason I am asking is because it seems like the ST if I remember right has a pretty straight untapered end on the exaust which would allow plenty of surface for the hose clamp to clamp down to. The exaust tip on the Saito 100 seems to be fairly short, and tapered which might make it tough to clamp down to, and then again it might work with no trouble. If anyone tries this method on their Saito, please let me know how well it works. I like the look of the brass over the rubber, so if someone trys this and finds that it works well, then I would consider doing the same to mine.

Cool idea with the brass extensions! There is type of soft brass also available at home depot which can be routed easily. As is looks nice but they can also be painted matt black or chrome for that matter. There are high temperature spray paints available in auto parts stores for use on car engines.

that is a pretty good idea for the exhaust diverter. When i was experimenting with mufflers for my saito the Davis Diesel muffler was the same idea of mouting as your extention. It had a brass inlet tube which had slits on the four corners, and you mount it to the header of the saito. Then you use a hose clamp and clamp it down on the header. Never tryed it because i would require lots of hacking of the cowl to install it. More than stock.
I do have the dubro rubber diverter and i zipped tied it on the muffler.. Seems to be really snug. But, when the oil and crap starts shooting out the muffler when its runner may cause it to slip off.
Anyway its time for me to start up the motor for the first time. And start the long awaiting break in process. Im going to leave the cowl off for a bit so i can get to the needles when needed. Give it a couple good tanks on the ground before setting it up in the air. Dont want a deadstick on a mainden flight.

Everyone, thanks for the info on the muffler extensions. I will see what will work. I just got a email from VF and they said my plane was delayed by 2 days because they changed the type of material used for he wing joiners. They wanted to ship it with the new material. I should have it in a few days. You may want to check your wing joiners to see if they are developing any cracks. Just a heads up.

Yeah ive recieved word about the joiners. I think they are going for a birch wood now, a stronger wood. I put a nice coat of epoxy all over the joiner right next to the root of the wing to stiffen it up per instructions from VF.
I wonder if they changed the instructions a little as i noticed a lot of errors in the instructions.

Ray,

Yea that's the ST 51 on my Twist. (Great big muffler, loud as heck!) This extension has never come off the ST51 or my Pro 46. But I see what you are saying about the taper on the Saito muffler. My bet is that it would stay on the Saito if you roughed up the surface. Maybe someone will give it a try.

Got this email from VF today:
>>>>>>>>>>>>&g t;>
Dear Jon:

About 6 weeks ago we decided to implement a modification for the Edge following two isolated reports of wing failure as a result of shearing of the wing joiners. The modification called for changing one (of the two used) set of joiners with a stronger ply material. The new joiners were manufactured end of last week and we delayed the outgoing batch including your order by a few days, so that we could ship these airplanes with the upgraded joiners.

We know you must be anxious to receive your airplane and wanted to thank you for your patience. You will be receiving your order later this week.

John
VF
<<<<<<<<<<<<&l t;<<

I haven't been pestering them so they made some big customer service points today. And I told you all that they were making mine better.

rcfury,

>> I do have the dubro rubber diverter and i zipped tied it on the muffler.. Seems to be really snug. But, when the oil and crap starts shooting out the muffler when its runner may cause it to slip off.<<

I tried the Hobbico version. They always came off.

I hope your test burn went well. When is the maiden?

Flight Report #2:

I talked my mom into watching my three girls while my two sons and I loaded the car. My boys were still a little grumpy as we headed out to the field. We didn't get home from the Monster Jam show in the Superdome until after midnight. Man was that a blast.

We arrived at the field at about 9:10 am. It was an awesome day for flying down here. The temp was in the low 60's with a nice 7-10 mph head wind straight down the runway. This time I had plenty of time to prep the plane.

After I got her together, I carried her to the flight line and fueld her up. There were already three other members up in the air, so I decided to wait. Once it was clear, I gave my buddy the camera to get a few shots of the Edge in the air.

I attached the glow starter and a couple of seconds of the starter and big Saito jumped to life. A quick range check and I was ready. Another buddy of mine had just taken off with his 63" span Aeroworks Edge 540, so I was eager to get mine up to complare the two.

I taxied out and did one last control check. I eased into the throttle and once again, she leaped into the air at just passed 1/3 throttle. I added throttle and maintained a nice climb out to about 100 ft., followed by an easy banking turn to the left. After I leveled the wings, I noticed that now she needed up trim. I made a couple of changes from the last flight. If you guys remember, I needed quite a bit of down trim. Well I adjusted the elevator clevises after that first flight and now I need uptrim to get her to fly level.

Aileron trim was almost dead on with only one click of right trim. Once she was trimmed, I proceeded to fly a few circuits to ensure the motor was running well. I brought her around on the downwind leg and tested the roll rate (I kept everything on high rates during both flights). The rolls, although very axial, were not quite up to my liking. While the roll rate would be fine for most people, I like my planes to roll just a bit faster. She was rolling about 3/4 roll/sec. I had set my aileron throws at 7/8" up and 5/8" down. I will be upping these a bit more.

I made another nice turn and wanted to check out how she handled a loop. Still at about 100 ft. high, I pulled back and made a nice loop. The elevator response was immediate. Although I have 40% expo on the elevators, she was still very predictable and responsive without being twitchy/senstive. I did notice however, that on full hard back on the elevator she had a tendency to snap to the right. I can attribute this to my elevator halves not being perfectly aligned. I noticed this once I landed and checked them out, that the right elevator half was a tiny, tiny bit higher than the left (less than 1/16").

Now it was time to see how she could handle a snap roll. I pulled her around and did a right/up snap roll. She excuted the maneuver with ease and stopped rotating as soon as the sticks were returned to nuetral. I then did two in a row followed by three in a roll. She handled these high stress manuevers with ease. These planes are definitely well constructed and can take a lot of stress.

Since I forgot to activate my timer, I felt it was time to bring her in. I made a couple of low and slow passes to get a feel for her slow speed handling. Once satisfied, I assumed the pattern. I lowered the throttle to about half on the downwind leg. As I made the final turn to line up, I lowered the throttle to 1/4. I lined her up on final and eased her down. Just befoer touching down, I chopped the throttle from high idle to idle and she just floated in for a perfect, no bounce landing. I taxied in and parked her. It was time to catch my breath before the next flight.

After about 30 minutes of socializing with the club members, I thought it was time to take her up again. My buddy with the Aeroworks Edge had the same idea. It was ironic how we both flew at the same time and were the only two planes in the air during both flights. I can honestly see no performance difference between the two Edge's. I feel that both planes are very capable of just about every aerobatic manuever thrown at them, except the wild 3-d stuff.

I fueled her up and once again she cranked right up. This time it was time to see how she handled inverted and knife edge. I taxied out and eased into the throttle and she was up again in no time. I brought her to about 50-75 ft. I went through the normal stuff first: rolls, loops, and snaps. Now it was time to see how much down elevator it would take to hold inverted flight. I lined her up and rolled her inverted. To my surprise, it took hardly any down elevator to hold it. Two click of down elevator and she would fly inverted with hands off. Impressive.

After I made a couple of circuits inverted, it was time for knife edge. I rolled upright and got a little altitude. I leveled off at about 100-150 ft. I lined her up and rolled right 90 degrees. I started adding left rudder. I noticed next to no pitch coupling, but some slight roll coupling. Nothing major. It was very easy to fly the manuever through. After the first one, I brought her down some and performed another knife edge the length of the field. I really enjoy the nuetral characteristics this plane exhibits.

I also tested the vertical performance. This engine will pull it out of sight at a little more than half throttle.

The timer indicated that the fun was over and it was time to land. I made the same approach as earlier. Everything was fine until on final. The winds had picked up slightly and she did not want to come down. She floated on by on two passes. Finally on the third pass, I chopped the throttle a little earlier and put in just enough down elevator to bring her down. She touched down right in front of me and came to a stop in about 30 ft.

I must say that this Edge far surpasses my expectations. After reading all the great things about VF and their planes, I was expecting quite a bit from this plane. She lived up to those expectations and then some. She performed all the basice manuevers with ease and kept asking for more. I was a little worried that I would have too much motor, but this combination proved to be perfect. With the proper throttle management, this plane can easily handle this big motor.

There is something that I noticed. The Aeroworks Edge sat a couple of inches higher than the VF Edge. It is like this because their main landing gear is straight and has a steeper angle. While taxing my Edge, I had only about 1-1.5" of ground clearance for the prop. After I got back home, I unbolted the mains and put them in the vice. I then bent them in and also straighted both legs quite a bit. The results of this was an increase in ground clearance from 1.5" to 4". There is still over 14" between wheels, so stability will not be an issue. I will post pics of this tomorrow.

Here are some pics of the take off and landing. Hope you like my report. More pics to follow.

Some more pics....

A couple of them are at not the greatest. My friend didn't zoom in enough or I was flying too high. I think the latter is the reason .