Guys, new to the RCU forums. Hope you will welcome a newbie. Thanks for all the great info on the Edge build. I am expecting my VF Edge to ship on the 10th. Did any of you or are any of you intending to tint your canopy? If so, what technique did or do you plan to use. I love the idea of the checkered underside. I guess I will have to be a copy cat. Off the subject, how do you post pics on this forum (please forgive my ignorance). Thanks again [8D]

Welcome RBgunner! Always good to have a fellow flier join the ranks here on RCU. I was planning on tinting my canopy, but I read that you should tint BEFORE you cut it out. I was going to use the Rite dye dipping method.

To post pics, use the "Post Reply" button at the end of the thread. Do not use the quick reply method. At the bottom of the Reply to message window you will see a link that says "Click here to upload!". Just click it and browse to your picture files for up to 4 pics per reply.

P.S. Excellent fleet you have listed there!

Here are a couple of shots I took this evening in the backyard of the new checks and a pose or three.

We got a combat plane puke that joined the lineup. Nice having you RBgunner. You big in combat?
Actually I was just going to upload some pics of my edge. But thought id wait till i get the bottom of the wing done. Got some finishing touches to do. It is looking nice..

Ez2bgman: I almost did what you did to bring the TE back to the fuse side. Instead I elimated the dowel all together. I put to 1/4 x 20 threaded inserts in the holes where the dowel would be and instead used nylon wingbolts to hold it on. At the same time it pulled the gap back to the fuse.

Welcome aboard RBgunner! Nice to have you here!

Welcome to my lovely thread RBgunner...

Nice checkerboard there Primodus. Where did you ever come up with such a clever idea????[sm=idea.gif] LOL

I ended up making another change to the wing/fuselage gap problem. I bought some 1/2" dowel, cut 2 inch long length, drilled it dead center, then tapped it for 1/4 x20 nylon bolts. I then marked everything and drilled the wing roots out to accept the 1/2" dowel and glued them in with wood glue. A few drops of thin CA to strengthen the threads and a fool proof method to secure each wing at the trailing edge.

I am now officially 100% flight ready. I had a few tid bits here and there to do. I installed a Great Planes rx switch. Finally installed the tail fairing. And finished installing the blind nuts for the belly pan. I am working on a different method to secure the belly pan in the near future. I put it on the normal way because I really want to fly this weekend.

Hopefully I will be able to get her out tomorrow and run the new Saito some more. If I get it outside, I will take some nice pics of the plane with some natural light.

Until next time........

THANKS GUYS RCFURY: NO NOT BIG INTO COMBAT JUST A COUPLE OF GUYS AND ME AT OUR FIELD MESS WITH IT FROM TIME TO TIME

Ez2bgman: As i said ill post pictures as soon i got the wing finished. The guys at D+D signs did a awsome job making the letters. Which in turn took me 2 hours in put on correctly. The plane is almost done. I need to tint the canopy, install the flying wires and install the rest of the electronics. Im waiting for my muffler from davis diesel so i can get my cowl cut out. I took the wheels off so i can put regular axles on the landing gear, which i pollished to a mirror shine.

forgot to add...
Rbgunner im tinting my canopy by using the tamyia smoke paint which is thinned out even further... Then spraying it on by airbrush. Looking pretty good, got 2 more coats to do.

rcfury, thanks for letting me know how you are tinting your canopy. I am torn between dye and the smoke paint. Guess I will flip a coin.

Rcfury, the lettering on the wing looks awesome! As well as the polished landing gear! BTW Are you going to recover the firewall or use something else to fuelproof? [8D]

rcfury,

Great looking plane. Couple of questions.

You mounted your Saito sideways, where Gary mounted his inverted. Is yours also a 120? Will your cowl fit over the Saito without cut-outs?

>>landing gear, which i pollished to a mirror shine.<<

How you do that?

jon

Thank you for all the kind remarks...
Well the stripping of the covering on the firewall was a mistake. i got a little xacto knife crazy and cut the covering.. I did thin out epoxy and fuel proofed it further.
I have the saito 100 in my plane. Another guy at our club had the 66" extra and used the saito 100 and it preformed amazing. So i stuck with the 1.00. I mounted it sideways because i didn't want to redrill holes in the firewall. Feeling kinda lazy. And since the saito 100 is a smaller engine than the motor i didn't have to hack up the cowl all that much. The valve covers only stick out the side of the cowl maybe less than a .25 inch.

Jon: Put on a pair of messed up hole in the knees jeans with one of your stretched out shirt and follow me, its a messy job. Go to your local homedepot and pick up some wet or dry sandpaper, grits 250 all the way up to 1000 (if you can find it, 600 will do). Start wetsanding the landing gear starting with 250. You want to get rid of the grain in the aluminum. keep on going to a finer grit sandpaper going the opposite direction as the previous. Make sure you keep the sandpaper wet or the aluminum will start to load up. by the time you get to the 600 grit it will start to look almost a satin color, and you will begin to see a little shine. When you done sanding get some mothers aluminum polish and start buffing. keep on polishing until no more black residue appears. the more time you take sanding the better it will look. Once you add the polish, scratches will be magnified looking kinda ugly. It took me nearly 2-3 hours doing the landing gear.. Then you want to spray it with some clearcoat or some car wax works pretty good to keep it from oxidizing.

>>And since the saito 100 is a smaller engine than the motor i didn't have to hack up the cowl all that much.>>

correction: Since the saito 100 is a smaller engine than the 120, I didn't have to hack up the cowl all that much.

Plane looks great. Just wondering if your using the stock muffler on the FA-100 or a Pitts style? And if Pitts, where did you find it. They seem to be rather scarce at the moment....Thx

rcfury,

Your plane is coming along great.

The lettering on the bottom should really help with inflight orientation.

Nice job on the landing gear. I was thinking of polishing my LG and my spinner, but I felt kinda lazy to do it [sm=lol.gif].

I will have more pics posted this evening of the plane outside with the engine running.

Thanks guys...

For the muffler im using the davis diesel in cowl muffler for the saito 100. Its works 20 times better than the slimline plus its 20 dollars cheaper. You can find it at www.davisdieselproducts.com

I have the spinner being done at a metal finishing place. Its like polishing but it dont tarnish. It should also hold up to a electric starter.

oops sorry.. miss typed the web address it can be found [link=http://www.davisdieseldevelopment.com/]here[/link].

Found the site at http://www.davisdieseldevelopment.com/ . I assume that is the same site your ordered from. Would you happen to recall the model number? and thanks for tip!

Exactly where are you all balancing your planes at? I have mine currently set at exactly 4". The suggested range goes 3/8" either way from there. Has anyone had to add weight?

CG at 4 1/8" with a full 14 oz. tank! It probably goes to about 4 3/8 as the fuel level drops. Acually I prefer the light feel of the nose as you can slow the plane down a lot more and its less prone to losing height sharply in a slow steep turn (a.k.a dead stick situations!)[:-]

The part number for the muffler is SM-Q4LGS. It is in stock. I think it was round 40 dollars or so. Thats almost 40 dollars cheaper than the slimline's muffler. Actually the davisdiesel muffler is actually a muffler. It has a baffle inside which quiets the exhuast alot without taking away from power. They said that it actually increased power by a couple hundred rpm.

rcfury or anyone else that knows the answer. What is meant by an in cowl muffler? Does the muffler you are using make it easier to fit the cowl? Does it allow less or smaller holes to be drilled in the cowl. Just wondering the advantages. I might buy one for my Edge if the advantages are substantial over the muffler that Saito supplies. Thanks a bunch. [8D]

Thanks for the part num. It looks like that muffler is also able to be used in either a horizontal or inverted application. That coupled with the price makes it look the the winner... Thanks again!

Just out of the blue I decided to weigh my Edge. [X(][X(][X(]

A whopping 10 lbs. 2 oz.!!!!!!!!!!!!

The 2 oz. are small lead weights added under the nose that can be removed to shift the CG as I see fit. I still don't see how it made it up to 10 lbs. even with the added weight of the 6.0V 5cell over a 4.8V 4cell. Do checkerboards weight that much?