LOL I nealy hit the floor laughing!

Guys FYI,

I hope John at VF won't mind me sharing the text of his e-mail to me re: my comments to him about the VF Edge 540.

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Hi Jon:

Thanks very much for your message! Very happy to hear back from you with some really important feedback. We are delighted that you like your airplane and we wish you many years of enjoyable and fine flying with your VF Edge.

We agree the wheel pants must be improved! We are looking into outsourcing assembled wheel pants. As you know we manufacture in North America and fiberglass work carries a lot of health and safety liabilities here which makes it less attractive to do, however in China it can be done without any of these liabilities. We will be doing something about the wheel pants soon to make them more user friendly.

New batches have the holes already in place in the fuselage and wing root. We will be adding the necessary instructions to use nylon screws to hold in the TEs.

We are aware of the customers looking for a better belly pan and this became our top priority some time ago. We have come up with a better way to use the belly pan. Please note that this polycarbonate material is an engineering plastic very much stronger than everyday plastics such as ABS. Properly tempered and relieved of stresses, it is almost impossible to break or crack even if impacted with a hammer! The cowl and wheel pants are also made of the same material. The only problem was that it required 6 screws to install and this was a rather tedious arrangement, we agree wholeheartedly! Now if you take a look at the new instructions which are not yet in print (soon) but they have been made available at the web site at the following link
http://www.vectorflight.com/Edge54066Instructions.html , you will see that it is now only held down by 2 screws at the rear. We have to thank our customers for actually using (stealing?!!) one of the ideas from EZs thread at RCU. Actually we did want to do something like this for a while but recent posts gave it a new sense of urgency! One more thing I would like to point out is that the reason we do not use wing tubes is purely based on science, not that it is more or less economical to do. In fact boring out the foam cores and using an aluminum rod is no more expensive or difficult than what we have done with the laser cut joiners. From a design point of view, a central tube system is a very inefficient way and is never used in full scale airplanes because all the stresses are concentrated towards the surface of the wing. Many RC airplane companies today copy designs from others (many are also made in the same outfit in China) and so they are sort of locked into doing what the other is doing, but not us! We independently do our design work and do what we think is right from an engineering perspective. Form always follows function. We realize it is perhaps a little more difficult to assemble but it is still worth it in our humble opinion. We will be trying to install some sort of guide or rail inside the fuselage which will facilitate sliding in each wing half and aligning them for the bolts.

Thank you for your remarks about offering a premium package. We are in touch with Sullivan and will likely be switching from the current Dubro tailwheel bracket to Sullivan's, or we may eventually end up designing our own.

We do believe that we are offering the very best possible values available anywhere today, even compared to some much higher priced ones from China. However the overwhelming amount of good publicity at RCU in a relatively small market with many suppliers puts us in a vulnerable position as some vested interests sometimes try to bad mouth us!! We wish we could caution our customers against these situations.
Please send us any and all pictures of your airplane. We are trying to add some nice ones to the web site and customer supplied pictures look great! And if there is anything we may do, please let us know.

Thank again for your time, and Great Flying!

John
VF
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That last post just shows what I have been saying all along. Them folks at VF are top notch! A real league of there own! Awesome Product built in North America, Awesome Prices, and Awesome Customer Service! Anyone in the Market for a .60-.90 size Edge 540, Extra 300, or Sukhoi would have to look long and hard to find a better Manufacturer to deal with than Vectorflight, and in my opinion I doubt that any better could be found!

Ray: Amen my friend!!! From all the manufactures ive done business with, VF is far the best. Im glad that VF has been reading the posts on RCuniverse, and trying to incorporate some of the ideas that are shared on these forums.

I looked at VF supplemental instructions for the belly pan. It doesn't seem to be not that bad of an idea, how come i didn't come up with that. Granted my woodworking skills need to be improved, I dont think i have enough skill there to contruct my own belly pan like Gary. Ill probally order another belly pan from VF and try it that way. I dont know.
Anyway... I woke up early this morning with an awsome dream of my VF edge. Yeah something is wrong there. So i was like gonna maiden my bird today. Get out of bed and look out the window. To my surprise, 6 INCHES OF SNOW ON THE GROUND!!!!!!!! Ahhhhh.. Im not seeing a maiden any time soon until spring hits.

VF is a shining example of how excellent customer service can make all of the difference. [8D][sm=thumbup.gif]

I've started my Edge540 build finally after documenting all the info I could gather from VF and here. They have been great about sending me extra assembly photos of the first steps . I have the wing joiner built and cured out. Mine fit into the wing root slots with very little effort. I'm still going to lightly sand the joiner before fitting to the wing so the epoxy will have a bit more room to spread.
A friend suggested Gorilla Glue as a substitute for the epoxy. It soaks into foam deeper ,,, unlike epoxy that only adheres to the surface of the foam. But I think VF feels that their instructions will work just fine. They really have been quick to reply to all my questions and make you feel like part of the family when you purchase one of their ARFs.
I too may have a modification idea on the back wing guide that would secure the TE area firmly to the fuse sides. More to come.

Sturtz, you will have no problem if you stick with the instructions and use the epoxy. Poly glues, like Gorilla Glue, work by expanding when activated by water. They adhere to just about anything. I am sure that it would be a suitable substitute to epoxy. It's up to you.

Well guys, I finished installing the O.S. 91FX and the new cowl. I was able to lose just over a pound by switching motors. The weight went from 9 lbs. 14 oz. down to 8 lbs. 10 oz. I think the Edge will fly even better now. The weather is not cooperating, so I will not be able to take her out today. I will keep you guys posted.

Later.

Hey guys, Almost finished with my Edge and it's looking great. I used VF's new bellypan mounting method and it seems to have worked well.
I do have a question on the Aileron control horns........Usually, I try to line up the control horn so that the holes for the clevis are over the hinge line of the control surface.....if I mount the control horns behind the wing servos, this won't work, because the aileron is on an angle. However, I could mount the horns further out on the control surface, and that way, I can mount them lined up with the front edge of the aileron. How did you guys do it?

During the dry run on the wing assembly I thought of a couple of alternate ideas for the rear post area. But non are any better or as good as the bolt system I've seen here. With all the fabrication ideas by some of you done ahead of time this should make my build go much easier.

glowplug, the angle of the control rod for the ailerons should be perpendicular to the hinge line. This will ensure equal travel in both up and down. This will also allow you to mount the control horns so that the pivot point is over the hinge line. I attached a pic of how mine looks. Any easy way to ensure that the angle is correct is to use a square and put on edge on the hinge line and the edge up to the servo arm. Then you can mark the location for the control horns. Hope this helps.

Guys, try to post some pics of your planes during the build and definitely afterwards. I will have some new pics up tomorrow of the plane with the O.S. 91FX and the new cowl.

LaTer.

Will do Gary.

Thanks Gary! [8D]
I was thinking the same thing.....I'll do it that way.

Ok,, I used epoxy to set the wing joiners. Then after it cured I found a bit too much gap so I sanded it down till I got a super tight fit.
I had to go to a 5x16 bolt and wingnut to make it work. But that's not a big deal since I'm using a 91FX and I can spare a bit more weight.
On the rear area of the wing I used a couple of collet type prop adaptors from brushless motors for my lockdowns. I removed the collars and inserted them backward into the holes. Epoxied them in and used thin paper washers with foam safe CA to finish .
The prop nuts have holes through them so a small screwdriver or nail can be used to tighten them up at the field. They are holding very well so far. And since they are aluminum they weigh practically nothing.

Hey Guys,
What is the optimal CG you have found for your Edges? Last night I completed and balanced mine and had to add 3 1/2 oz. of tail weight [:@] to balance just ahead of 4". Will this be a good CG point, or should I get it back to at least 4"?

Mike

I started out with 4 back and i had no trouble at all.

Mine is finished! Now if we could only get rid of this snow! [:'(]

Glowplug: Plane is looking good. Looks like you polished the landing gear too. I think it really makes the plane stand out. I bought an attachment to my bench grider for a polishing wheel. Though Id try it out to see if i can get the fine scratches that I could see. After using the steps of compounds.. WOW!!!! It looks like its just been chrome plated.
Im also living in the same boat as you. This freaking snow wont leave me alone. its beginning to annoy me. Last week mother nature thinks it would be great to dump 6 inches of snow on us. A couple days later as the snow is beginning to melt. Hey guess what we get another 4 inches. Ill tell you our flying fieild is looking like a big giant mud hole.

Well March 2nd was my b-day.. YEAH!!!! not......
Wake up in the morning and a huge box was on my table, a hanger 9 p51 miss america... I thought my G/F didn't like my planes.

Thanks Nathan! Actually, I didn't polish the gear....it was pretty bright already....I think I'll do it though.
Miss America P-51....sweet [8D] A buddy of mine has the warbird scheme H9 P-51....he should be maidening it soon.

Great looking Plane, kids, and dog glowplug. I'm sure you are proud of all four! Hopefully spring is right around the corner so you can get out and enjoy that nice Plane! Looks like you done a wonderful job on it!

Thank you Ray! Yes, I'm pretty proud of them!

The Edge was a bit more labor intensive than some other ARF's that I have assembled, but it was never an unpleasant experience. I took my time on it and made sure everything was right. It was a very enjoyable ARF to build!

Great job !! And great looking kids !!!

Except that little one. He or she looks kinda like a dog.

LOL! Thanks Kurt. Shhhhhh.....we don't tell him that he looks like a dog!

A little off topic but Well i got a new toy today. Its not a VF plane but im pretty sure im gonna like it

looking good... too cold for motorcycle here
construct a little trailer on it and tote your VF.. there you go!!!!

Exactaly what im gonna do. I have a buddy that hauls his planes around in a little trailer behind his bike in the summer and its a great idea.