Primodus

My Feedback: (56)

On another note, I was able to get a bit more flying time this afternoon with the 14x7MAS prop. Put it through the paces pretty well and it held up just fine. The only thing it couldn't hold up to was hitting the runway on a hard landing. Broke the prop, the tailwheel, and one of the main wheel hubs. The tailwheel was a clean snap and is already fixed via 30 min epoxy. The prop will be replaced by a 16x6APC. And the mains will be replaced by Dubro 3" rubber wheels.

I was able to do some tests at altitude with the flaps on as well. When activated the nose pitched DOWN. At full deflection, it took full elevator just to keep the nose level. I'll have to rethink the whole flap/spoiler thing.

To add insult to injury, I also busted the tailwheel out of my Funtana40 today in the same manner. Guess it wasn't my day for landing. At least they will all fly again.[8D]

Calflyer

Amazing, this thread seems to grow by the second. There's got to be several pages added since the last time I checked in! So much has happened!

Gary, congratulations on your second flight report! Awesome description and some really good flying this time. I've been flying this bird for quite a while and it only gets better!

Rcfury, that strap breaking off is a bummer. Hope there's no damage to the plane. Hopefully it will be fine, but it is a good idea just for peace of mind to do a thorough check. On a positive note I think if a plane is banged up a little before it flies, it actually prevents further bad stuff from happening! Call me superstitious if you must! Just my personal experience!

RBgunner

My Feedback: (8)

Guys, sorry to hear about your field and your plane. [] If any of you are ever in East Central Florida (preferably in the winter) we should all get together at my club with our VF Edges. That would make quite a picture. Of course I do not have mine yet, but hey I feel a part of the club anyway. Hope to star my build string this weekend if my plane arrives when they say it should. Question for you all. What to think about going electric with this plane? I have a Saito 100 waiting, but man the plane would look nice with an intact cowl and it would never get all oiled up. Just a thought.[8D]

Primodus

My Feedback: (56)

RBgunner - What power plant would you go with for the electric conversion? I think getting together like that would be awesome. Would be a long trip but what a sight to see all those Edges lined up side by side, IN THE AIR!!!!

RBgunner

My Feedback: (8)

Prim., not sure at this point. The thought really just came to me. I have a shop in town that handles only electric stuff. The owner is extremely knowledgable and I have sent him an email asking him what motor and battery pack would be the best. I will let you know when I get the suggestions from him. He has a great website ( www.espritmodel.com ) and some really awesome planes he carries. Some of these things go 200 miles an hour (pylon racers). He came out to our club a few times and flew. Great pilot. Electric has come a long way in a short time.

ckangaroo70

My Feedback: (51)

Our Club President has a Sig 4 star that is electric. To power a Plane as big as the VF edge is going to be mighty expensive though, but there would be no trouble doing it. I would have to get a second mortage just to buy the Lipo Battery it would take to run whatever powerplant you would go with. Be neat to see though. You would have to clip a playing card to the front of your Plane to make noise though like putting a card in your bicycle spokes.

rcjon

>> think about going electric with this plane? <<

Sound of VF Edge / Saito 100 on high speed low pass - "bhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhr"
Sound of VF Edge / EP on high speed low pass - " "

I'd go glow, but that's just me.

Primodus

My Feedback: (56)

LOL That is hilarious![sm=lol.gif]

ckangaroo70

My Feedback: (51)

Ron
If I went back to Florida, I would be the guest who never left! LOL I am freezing my b---- off here in Illinois. Last time I went to Florida I had to drive 1400 miles back home to Illinois barefooted. I burnt the tops of my feet so bad laying on Daytona Beach that my feet swelled up twice there normal size, and I couldn't put my shoes on for a week! Mickey Mouse took all my money too, as if the burnt feet were not bad enough. Still with the weather like it is here, Florida sounding mighty nice!
I keep reading in these magazines about these Model Communities they have down there. A subdivision of Airplane Modelers with their own airfield. Sounds like a place I could retire. I can retire when I am 54, so I could get in alot of good flying years in a place like that before I would kick the bucket!

ez2bgman

My Feedback: (4)

rcfury, sorry to hear about your misfortune. Here's what I did to break in my motor. I cut a piece (about 12" x 12") of 3/4" plywood and used it as a base. I then made a cutout for the Saito. I made a tray that allowed the servo and rx to sit. I then used some velcro strips, screwed to the wood, to secure the fuel tank. Then I screwed it down to my Black and Decker work horse. I also made a mount for my tachometer. That way it was completely hands free. Once I mounted it, I used some padded steel saftey sticks that I stuck in the ground about 12". Then I just let the planes leading edge butt up against the sticks. The Saito 120 was pulling so strong that I had to scrounge around mor 2 additional sticks. I have always felt that the tail straps allow too much pressure on the tail assembly. Especially with the manner in which our h-stab is mounted. It is secured mainly from the epoxy on the bottome of the h-stab. The tail straps may be suitable for a plane that has a slide in h-stab, but I don't think it is wise to use this method on our planes. Just my opinion.

After talking with my buddy (the other club president), I have decided on a method to add struts/flying wires to my landing gear. I am going to use some of the wire from my Dubro pull pull kit. I'm going to drill 2 small holes in each leg of the landing gear. I will then use one wire and thread it through all four holes so that they criss-cross in the middle and then use one of the provided crimps and crimp the wire ends together once I achieve the proper tension. I think this will be more than sufficient to hold the landing gear together. With the use of these wires, the weight will be next to nothing.

rcfury

My Feedback: (5)

You know something I think we need to get a chat room!!!! All these converstaions in like 5 minutes time. I bet by the time i finish typing this little something 2 people would have responded.

Calflyer: Actually I think your right. But, since i work at a hobby shop and something falls off the self. The product has been precrashed. Its gonna crash at some point.

RCJON: Nothing can beat the slow puurrrrr from a four-stroke. On electric you would have to record a section of a glow motor and put a speaker on the plane just to recreate the sound.

Come to think of it I think it would be awsome to have an VF fun-fly. Have a rcuniverse get together. Can you just imagine 20 VF edges all lined up. We'll have to take a picture and send it to Vectorflight. I think they would have a blast with that. Id go to florida and join the festivities. Every month i go to an RC trade show in PA to sell and buy some RC stuff I collect. Florida would be just a hop skip and a jump.

Lastly have anyone tried any other tail-trap available? I used to tie the tail end with rope which was staked to the ground.. Cant do it that way since i have those flying wires on. Midwest has that joint that gets stressed everytime you push it in the ground. Our field isn't blessed with some plane stands that will hold it by the wings, no matter how many times i mention it in the meetings.

rcjon

Here is my cheapo test stand. I don't use a servo and Rx, only because I didn't think of it. For the throttle control, I drilled a mis-aligned hole in the backplate and glued a piece of fuel tubing in it. I run a piece of control rod through the hole and it holds the setting. I use C clamps to attach this contraption to a table.

ez2bgman

My Feedback: (4)

rcfury, you can easily make your own safety sticks. I made mine out of some heavy duty steel rods I got at Home Depot in the welding section. I just bent about 6" of each end to make a handle to grab onto when you push into the ground. I then wrapped it in regular pipe insulation. I can stick my sticks about 10-12" into the ground. The only reaason I had to use two more when I started running the motor on the plane at home is because the ground was water soaked from some recent rain we had. Therefore, the ground was real mushy and soft. But when I used them at my old Field () I had absolutely no problem with them holding back the Saito 120.

Another, easier, way is to go to the gardening dept. in Home Depot ot WalMart and get some land landscaping stakes. The have a small step that allows you to step on it to ancor it in the ground. Then you can just wrap them with pipe insulation. Either method is more effective than tail traps.

rcjon

>> You know something I think we need to get a chat room!!!!<<

I'm not sure I know you all that well.[8D]

ez2bgman

My Feedback: (4)

rcjon, that's a nice, simple stand. But for a Saito 100-120 you would definitely need more support for the engine mount. A piece of 3/4 inch plywood cut out to accept the engine is very simple and strong. I used four drywall screws w/ washers to secure the engine to the stand. I will post pics of on of my stands in a few. I'm going to do the landing gear wires real quick.

Later.

rcjon

Gary,

>> rcjon, that's a nice, simple stand. But for a Saito 100-120 you would definitely need more support for the engine mount. A piece of 3/4 inch plywood cut out to accept the engine is very simple and strong.<<

I dif to begger, but I built this stand for a S100 break-in and it ain't going nowhere unless the backyard picnic table goes with it. The stand "firewall" is certainly stronger than any R/C airplane firewall. Maybe the pic doesn't show the stand well. I admit a piece of ply cut to fit the engine is simpler, but that's hard to do with a Skil saw.

ckangaroo70

My Feedback: (51)

Bet this ole girl looks familiar to somebody! I love Hog Bipes and ran across this little jewel while browsing another website I visit every so often. Who in there right mind would sell a classic like this? LOL Not to get off the VF subject, I just thought that there might be someone in here that is missing his little jewel awful bad! Wish it was in my Hangar!

Don d

My Feedback: (1)

Doing my first 100 hour inspection and tune up on my trusty Edge. Need a new cowl but she still flies so good. Should probably put in new servos. I think I'll order a new cowl and a spare complete new plane one of these days.

Don

ez2bgman

My Feedback: (4)

As promised, here the pics of the wires that I used to keep the landing gear from flattening out. The wires are a little hard to see, but if you squint hard enough you will see them there just behind the muffler. I think this setup will be more than enough to withstand all but the hardest of landings. The main reason for adding this was not because of hard landings, but because I bent and straightened the gear out, I may have weakened them some. This will ensure that they stay at the right height.

Here's a pi of one of the stands that I have used. It's too late to dig up the one with the mini servo tray. But the idea is still the same...

ez2bgman

My Feedback: (4)

I just noticed that I went from a "Market Authorized Member" back to a "Basic Member". Must have reset everyone when they enhanced the Marketplace. Guess I have to redo my market status. Oh, well.

Primodus

My Feedback: (56)

Ray, nice bipe...looks vaguely familiar. [:-] A real blast to fly, but nowhere close to the Edge.[8D]

Gary, The wires look tough. Now get out there and test them.

Don, Welcome to the thread Got any pics of your Edge?

ckangaroo70

My Feedback: (51)

Good job on the wires Gary! That really ought to give the gear alot of added strength. On another note, I keep noticing that most folks fly with the pants off their Planes, and I know that most of the times that it is due to flying off of grass, but I for one love the looks of the pants, and I always run with them on even though I fly off grass also. I have also read that these pants won't hold up to two flights off of grass. Well mine have two flights and not a scratch. I just love the looks of wheel pants on a Plane, and I will run mine till there is nothing left of them, and then I will order another set, and fly with them till they are no more, and so on..... Maybe it is just my personal preference, but I really think that the wheel pants look awesome on this Plane. I am not talking about the quallity of the Pants, I am simply talking about the appearence. What mod to do to add strength to these pants is a different topic! Welcome to the Chat Don!

ez2bgman

My Feedback: (4)

Welcome to our ever growing thread Don. Glad to hear that hear that she still flies good.

I agree with you on the wheelpants, Ray. But I have went through two sets of pants on my Aresti 40 in less than 5 flights. As soon as I can find a suitable replacement, I will put pants on my Edge. The ones I ordered from Horizon, that are for the Seagull Edge 540, are way smaller than our pants. I am going to try to work on the supplied pants and see if I can't beef them up some. Hopefully I can get them on by this weekend. I will update you with the progress on them. Does anyone have any ideas on how to make them more sturdy? I really like the way they look, but I am very concerned about their durability.

RBgunner

My Feedback: (8)

A VF Edge fly-in (well drive-in) would be awesome. You are all welcome to come to my club's (well not my club, but the club I fly at) field and do this. We could probably all get a big discount on all the products we would buy from VF in the future, and it would be great fun. Maybe VF would sponsor this get together. Some unreal picture ops for them and us that is for sure. If enough people are interested I would set it all up (lodging and all). I will be putting the Saito 100 in my VF, I like the sound too. [8D]

ez2bgman

My Feedback: (4)

rbgunner, I agree. I think a fun fly for VF customers would be great. I would love to be able to put faces and real names to everyone here. I communicate more with you guys than my fellow club members. It's almost like we are one big happy VF family.