Good example to others of the size of this plane. The couch and coffee table are a standard 6 to 7 foot long.
Yes,,, I set the wheel pants on in one pic to see how it would look when I put 'em on.

By the way..... did the rest of you balance your 540s at 4-3/8 inches ? And did they fly good at that CG point ?

Plus,,, updated this morning,, Sat the 19th. The new way to install the belly pan VF posted looked good at first. But after doing the final checks before my maiden flight I can see that the small wooded peg holding the front on will not work. I had to add a screw to either side of the front corners of the pan. It would have blown off or fluttered horribly. I still think fuel will blow in the hull slightly but not enough to worry about. Plus I have all the radio gear stowed away well.
I also added a spare piece of left over cowl trim to close the gap between the LG and the cowl.

Kurt,

Your plane is looking great. Now that you have it all done, you need to get off your ***** and maiden it. Like I am really one to talk, considering I haven't flown mine in almost 2 months...LOL.

I will try to take a few pics this evening of the plane with the O.S. installed. I made one error (yes I too make mistakes) while measuring the distance from the spinner backplate to the firewall. I left off the spinner and came up about 1/8" too close. Now I have to move the engine out another 1/8". I may just add a 1/8" light ply spacer behind the motor mount instead of drilling more holes in the mount and possibly weaken it.

Keep up the good work guys. Later.

Kurt, very nice plane there. I notice you used the original metal screws for the landing gear. I have changed mine to 1/4-20 nylon scvrews, and its a great peace of mind! Might wanna try those yourself![8D]

Well Fellow rc'ers`I to have been following this thread and am 99% convinced as to the next aircraft in my hanger. I currently
own a tiger 60 Trainer with a TT 61, 4* 60 with OS 91 4 stroke, CG Ultimate with Satio 120, Funtana 90 with Satio 100.
So I thought this would be a good fit . Although I might have to purchase another Satio 100 (Darn !!!!!). As you can see I live in the grat white north so my flying season on wheels will be here in about 3 to 4 weeks. Just right in my opion for the craft to arrive. There is a web sight in Ontario and I reside in Alberta. So keep this thread alive as I need all the help I can get.

Vectorflight is in Windsor, Ont (just across the river from me) so they should be able to get it to you pretty quick....

Seems they are running about a 3 week backlog.... I CAN"T WAIT to get mine!

OK Exeter_acres You twisted my arm. I will oeder miy EDGE on monday and tell the wife on Tuesday. This approach has worked in the past.

I put my Magnum 91 RFS on the stand today. I just happened to have a jug of 5% / 20% I wasn't going to use in anything. Figured it was a good place for it, break in fuel. Any body else run one of these? How long did it take to settle in before no more carb adjustment was needed? I've done a few Saitos but this is my first Magnum. On the Saitos I could always tell because it would suddenly change tone and give it one more carb adjustment after that, and was pretty much it. Been a while though. The last Saito I did I think was a 72 and took about a gallon to reach that point as I recall.

Went out to the field and waited for the wind to die down a bit. Never did. Stayed around 16+mph with gusts up to 25.
I do fly in wind conditions like that sometimes here in Okla. But not on a maiden flight .
Will report when I get the chance to fly again.

Got a slight break in the pounding Spring wind here (Okla) yesterday. "Billy The Stick" and I met at the local field for duel maiden flights. He has an Ultimate Bipe with a YS-63 w/super charger he wanted to checkout. He also does many first flights for a few select friends. He is very steady and thorough so I trust him with a new plane. I often have him or my old instructor do a maiden for me when it's a plane type that I've never flown. All others I test fly myself.
To keep this short,,,, the takeoff was uneventful. Had a 10mph cross wind from the East. Turned into the wind and the VF Edge took off without effort. Three clicks of left aileron trim and she flew straight as an arrow. I have triple rates on my Futaba and Billy asked for high rates during the flight. I had set the rates to the manuals instructions. He just kept commenting on how docile it flew.
I think we both were expecting at least a touchy elevator from what I've read here from others. But in fact it needed more elev than I had dialed in for normal rates. The axial rolls were slow until we used high rates all the way around. Then the plane started feeling like a true sports plane.
Landing was as expected from my reading this post. Doesn't want to come down and settle like some sports planes. My Extra300s must all be landed fairly fast but this was differant. The plane keeps all it's weight in the fuse section while the foam core wings stay light and lifting. It didn't have the tip-stall tendencies like many sports planes. It just floats straight and steady till the air mass is less than the wing lift and she falls like a jet from the sky. Billy got her down with no problems and we moved on to his project.
Later , about an hour before dusk the wind died down even more and the sun came through the clouds. It was my turn to fly the Edge. Takeoff was easy and flight was steady and solid on high rates. The plane goes were you point it but without the twitchy over controlled feel of some planes. Axial rolls looked great even at half throttle. This Edge does the best loop I've seen in a long time.
Vertical manuvers felt tight and controlled. And rudder response was perfect and didn't throw the plane off the lateral lines at all.
The plane feels heavy and light all at the same time to me. It's hard to explain. But you know you got 8 lbs of plane up there,,,,, it just doesn't feel like it at certain times during the flight. Other times the weight is felt or sensed very easily. The wings are the secret if you ask me.

DEADSTICK !! The Saito-100 decided to quit after about five minutes of flying. Half throttle too. Might have been the larger prop I chose for the flight. The idle trimming was done on a smaller pitched prop. This changes the RPM and my idle might have been affected by this as well. Anyway,,, I dropped the nose and flew downwind to get a better one shot try at the grass along side of the runway. As I was turning final she simply ran out of lift . Instead of tip stalling or diving in nose first. The plane just stayed level and fell . I still had a forward momentum going ,,, but I had absolutely no control at this point. She hit on the landing gear after dropping from 12 to 13 inches high. The damage was astounding to the gear area of the plane. If I would have heeded the word about the nylon bolts I wouldn't be telling this tale of woe right now. It pulled the gear completely out blind nuts and all. In fact the blind nuts were ripped right out of the block leaving three gapping holes and a crack about halfway to the firewall.
The gear was bent in a twisted fashion with the new fiberglass wheel pants destroyed. One cracked hole in the belly pan. A couple of small dents in the wing bottom from the wheel pants. Any other non-solid wing would have been in a million pieces. I love the looks of wheel pants. In fact I think planes look naked without them. But the fact remains that they are shaped to destroy if you ever bend a gear back on landing. Maybe the light plastic design VF has isn't a bad idea after all. The fiberglass ones I had are shot now. And I'm thankful for the foam core wings.

VECTORFLIGHT:
I emailed John at VF before posting here last night. As always,,, they are very helpful and really seem to care about each one of their customers. He reminded me of the nylon bolt change and gave me the option to order a new fuse or do a repair. Since there was no damage to the rest of the plane at all. (WELL,,,,MAYBE THE BELLY PAN.) "If your reading this John,,, could you send me a new belly pan ?" I decided to repair. John sent me all the specs with step by step instructions on how to fix the block. Also a few tips on some changes that might help landings and other deadsticks in the future. I had CG'd mine at the 4-3/8s" as instructed by the manual. John suggests an even 4" . He also is sending me a new landing gear . I only pay the shipping charges. Thank you VF !!

Question,,, are you guys just running two holes in the LG with the nylon bolts ? Or three ? And are you using metal blind nuts or nylon holding nuts ?

PICS BELOW OF MY EDGE...[&o][&o][&o][&o]

Damaged area removed.

Sorry to hear...but sounds like it will be in the air again soon....

Sorry if I missed it, but what prop were you using??

Kurt,
Sorry to hear about it. Nylon screws would have certainly prevented that[:-]

On the bright side this is a pretty clean break! Its actually good that the blind nuts were pulled through the block and not totally ripped the block out with it. That would have resulted in more complicated damage. The firewall and sheeting look unscrached too! Says a lot about this tough bird!

Looks like youre right on track getting her back on the flight line![8D]

That is a bummer man.. But otherwise congrats on the somewhat decient flight. The repairs dont look all that bad. While the bottom have is taken off why now and really reinforce the area.
For the nylon bolts (granted i haven't maidened my plane yet) i have two 1/4 x 20 bolts in the front 2 holes. I didn't use blind nuts on the bottom. Just went ahead and drilled and tapped new holes in the wood iteself. I did put a pretty big beefy basswood plate below the landing gear itself. Was going to do all 3 holes with the bolts but when i was tapping the rear hole for the LG my drill went all crazy and messed up the hole pretty good. So what i did is epoxy a dowl rod to fill in the extra hole. In the block and through the LG itself. Feels plenty strong. The dowl in the rear will help keep the twisting to a minimum on rough runways and landings gone wrong.
So for my information when you talked to VF, what did they say when the unforgiving deadstick arrives. Ive been having some issues with my saito 100 after breakin, so alittle hesitant on bringing it up. Anyway hopefully ill get it up this sunday.

While we are on the subject guys - I went a-flying today. Just a beautiful day. I was on my 3rd VF Edge Flight and it was past time to land when another pilot had a dead stick on the field. I killed time off the end of the runway until the field was clear - but I really wasn't expecting to run out of fuel but I did 0- and i didn't have enough altitude to get back to the field - (stuu-pid). Landed in the high grass and flipped over the nose. Only real damage is the landing gear. This time two of the four 1/4" bolts I had in my gear broke off as planned, but two didn't and pulled off part of the bottom plate. So I've got a repair job to do also.

jon

I was using a 14x8 APC .

Well I'm at the stage when you decide how you want to do the repair. All damaged area is removed and sanded . I have measured and cut two ply sheets that will be formed together as one with the outer 1/2"edge of the old block as a brace.
With the CG moved up to 4" I'll need the extra weight up front anyway. John from VectorFlight has emailed me several times with ideas as they come to him. His idea of using a top ply sheet that will add 1/4" height to the LG got me thinking in the direction I've decided to go. The area between the two sheets will have a solid piece of 1/8th" ply directly across the area where the LG sits.
This is going to be one solid bastage when I'm finished. And the nylon bolts will have plenty of strong wood to break off from in case of a hard landing. I almost hate to say it,,, but I'm thinking of ditching the wheel pants on this plane. Unless I can find a new set that isn't made of fiberglass.

Kurt,

I'll be doing a job on the LG mount plate this week also. Please post what you end up doing. I would have recommended four 1/4x20 nylon bolts. I've broken off all four already - twice. But in this last crack-up I broke out part of the fuse structure - so maybe 3 is the right number.

Re: wheel pants. I've had the Great Planes set on mine (Tower LXJ917 Great Planes Wheel Pants Medium S Sportster 40/Cap 40) and they've been pretty rugged. They would be great if I wouldn't keep breaking the gear off. One big disadvantage of wheel pants is that they do a great job of damaging the wing when you rip off the gear <g>.

jon

I'm going with three nylon wing bolts tap'd directly through the tri-ply I've installed. Should be more than enough support with the triple layers.
Believe me guys,,,, VectorFlight is watching and listening. They are not just getting us to be payed beta testers. But standing behind their product 100%. And most importantly they are using our ideas and repair innovations to improve the planes.
John wrote me with several more ideas on this deadstick topic. Larger , softer wheels were mentioned during the engine break-in process to ease the landing a bit more. These guys really get involved with your questions and problems. I've had several other companies that seemed almost mad at me for even calling or asking a question.
I have done the repair for the most part now. The 30-minute epoxy will sit and cure over the next few days. It's a done deal.
I used the surrounding area of the original plate and installed my first 1/4" ply sheet from inside the fuel tank area. After the epoxy started to kick I added my center strip of 1/8" ply directly where the gear will attach and the holes will be drilled.
I then used a high-quality acetone based wood filler to fill any gaps or edges between the bottom and top sheets.
Then I used a generous amount of 30-min epoxy to install the last "top" 1/4" ply sheet. After it all cures I'll sand the top and give it a coat of BalsaRite fuel proofing and cover it with the extra stick-on covering VF sends with each model.
Some modelers may GASP and say,,, "That's way too much ply ,,, adding too much extra weight! " But I disagree. Plus with the 4 inch CG balance it will need the extra weight as I mentioned earlier. And I don't know about you,,,, but I'd rather add something to my plane that is of some useful nature than lead weights that do nothing but sit there.
By the way,,, John from VF read my post and wrote me to say he'd already added the new belly pan to my order. What a guy.

Here is the repair after a night's curing and a fresh coat of Balsarite. Belly pan bracing installed to former as well.
Then the final block after covering.

You are pretty good when it comes to repairs. Didn't take you very long either. ON the mis-eventful time of a deadstick whats the best thing to with the plane. Should you switch it to low rates to keep it from stalling at the slow speeds? I know on my other plane i have to keep it high rates because there wasn't enough air flow going over the surfaces to get good control. Then all planes are differant.
I know ill experience a couple d-sticks with this motor since it is still new and im still trying to get all the kinks out. If the weather holds up this sunday im going to maiden it after a very LONG winter.

At the final moment of the stall I had no control what so ever on high rates. I'm just lucky this Edge falls straight without tipping.
I'm going to set mine up at high rates for normal flying since the throws suggested by the manual gave me very sluggish control.
I'll then set a lower aileron rate on the low switch and use the high switch and the end point adjustment for a few vertical rolls and in case of a deadstick. I would say if you have an end point adjustment , program in a panic (deadstick) switch with extended elevator and ailerons. That way you would have more of a chance to obtain some control when she gets low and slow.
In my case I was in a 45 deg climb toward the wind at half throttle when the engine died. I got the nose down and swung around downwind so I could turn back into the wind. Otherwise I would have gone down in the tall stuff. I've had to do this several times at our field in the same area almost. So it wasn't a big surprise. What did surprise me was the fact that half way into my turn for final she flat stalled and headed in the direction it was pointed . Right for the fence. (2-ft high steel posts with a cable running on top to keep cars off the flying field.) At this point I had no ailerons or elevator. It kept a slight forward momentum ,, kind of a slow glide I guess. Then simply fell straight down from about 13 inches . I missed the fence by the way.
That's is the way it happened. If I deadstick again with this plane I'm setting her down in the first decent area I see. No more jockying around for the perfect deadstick landing. Get 'er down fast and live to fly again .

All done and CG'd at 4"inches. Used a DuBro nylon landing gear with four 1/4 nylon screws. Changed to DuBro 3"inch rubber low-bounce wheels. Fixed the belly pan good enough to fly with if I get the chance before my new replacement parts get here from VF.
The nylon gear added more weight to the nose than the extra plywood. But it all CG'd out perfect at the new 4"inch balance point.
I'll see how this nylon gear works out and report back. I've never used one before.

More pics.

The cockpit instrument panel is from a real Zivko Edge 540 photo . I then reduce it in size and printed it to sticker/decal paper.
Doctor DeadStick is a popular old WWI scale pilot with a Hannibal Lector face fabrication. LOL !!!! Cheesy,,,I know. But fun to turn around and look at in the back of my truck as I head for the field. I got bored the other day while it was raining and had some fun.

Kurt, looking very good there! That was a super quick repeir You can not tell there has been any work on it, at least from the right side up.

I've used the Dubro Nylon gear on another plane, it springs back and never bends, but oh yeah its real heavy! So if it helped to balance on CG, that grreat!

Are those 4 screws 1/4 inch? Wouldnt that be too much. I am still going with two and have had no problems. Maybe because I am totally greasing my landings, even a few dead sticks were right on target. I guess I was lucky with enough altitude, and given enough experience you know how much it will fly without pushing it too much. Just bring her down in a shallow descent all the way to about a couple of feet off and then keep flaring gently till she slows down and lands. Dont let her slow down too much and you'll have enough elevator authority all the way. Even if you land a little hot she doesnt have a tendency to nose over.

Looks like you may be flying very soon![8D]

Thanks for the comments on the repairs Calflyer. And the info on the nylon LG.
I hope to be greasing in every landing from now on. I really haven't gotten the chance to try a regular landing yet with the Edge.
What do you think about using some rudder side to side movement on the final approach to slow the plane ? I've done it before and learned by watching some good pilots bringing in a hot plane in a small area for landing.
Plus ,,, do you think with the changed CG that the Edge will settle better on finals ?

BTW,,, I figured out why my engine quit. On the very first landing she plopped down pretty hard. The brass tube was a mm or 2 too long and the vent hose got sliced in half when pushed against the firewall. So when I went to fly the next time the old Saito pumped all the fuel it could for a few minutes before dying.