Well guys,

Couldn't get any more pics today of the plane running.[] I ran out of daylight. I went the LHS after work to pick up some heavy duty servo arms and a few other misc. parts and tools. By the time I switched out the servo arms and rechecked all the throws, it was dark. I changed the servo arms because I felt there was just a bit too much play in the stock arms. Now I have zero play. All the throws are set to factory specs except for ailerons which I have set at 3/4" on high rates. I like my planes to roll faster and always end up increasing my aileron throws.

Luke, how did the expo on the elevators work? I will probably start out with 25-30% expo and go from there.

I didn't get a chance to finish running the motor in either. I guess I will be up early to run the motor in some more. I plan on making the first maiden with her tomorrow. So I want to be sure everything is 100% ready. With the exception of leaning the engine, everything else is good to go. I can't wait until tomorrow.

I will take some nice pics of the Edge while I'm at the field, both on the ground and in the air. I will also do an indepth flight report of my day at the field with the Edge.

Until tomorrow, happy flying.

Gary, so far I am up to 40% on the expo for the elevator, I may go higher based on some thing I have been reading. It really seems to help tame the snap in this beast. I tried to keep the motor a little rich for the first couple of flights, even if it is ready to lean. It will help keep up the power under load conditions.

Gary, happy landings !! I got carried away on my first flight and didnt realize until Iwas almost out of fuel. Leave some for a couple of go arounds at least, it does tend to float on landings and easy to overshoot.

Primodus, that is way too much weight! I weighed mine on an electronic scale, and the complete airframe with everything except engine and radio gear was 5 lbs 11 oz which was really tidy. All up weight now is just over 8 lbs without fuel, so I am guessing it is close to 9 lbs with 14 oz of fuel. I am using a 91 FX which may explain some of the difference in weight compared to your 1.20, but it still seems too much. Imagine what you would turn it into if you took 1 lb off it somehow.[8D]

I can also agree that 10 lbs is very heavy for that plane. Thats also why i decided to go with the saito 100 instead of the 120.

I might add if you anyone is trying to find an exhaust for the plane. Dont go with the davis diesel exhuast. I just recieved it today and test fitted it on the plane. You would end up cutting more of the cowl than the stock will. Im going to try the saito's flex pipe for the last and final try. If not stock i go.

How in the He!! have I overlooked this post for so long? Glad you finally got your Plane Gary, and I wished I could have joined the conversation here from day one, but somehow I have just overlooked this thread. Looks like you have done a wonderful job putting your Edge together, and I like your attention to details. Great job Gary, and Glad to see your long wait over. I hope you have decided that it was worth the wait.

Mine is set at 4" also Luke using my C.G meter. Do you remember talking about the bolt on the underneath side of my Plane, back by the tail? Thats my dead weight. I dont mine having it there because I use it to help secure my Plane in the back of my Truck in a Magnetic Mount. I havn't weighed my Plane, but it seems to me that yours came out a tad on the heavy side. Maybe you should consider putting your Pilot on a diet. I am getting ready to install a 1/5 scale pilot in mine, and I have told him that he is not to be sneeking Brownies and Potato Chips into the Cockpit with him.

ck,

Welcome to my thread buddy. Thanks for the words of encouragement. I was wondering when you were going to chime in.

Well.... No flying today. ARRRRGGHHH !! I HATE RAIN. We had a series of severe thunderstorms pass through New Orleans in the wee hours of the morning and really soaked everything good. One of the fields that I fly at on Saturdays was water logged. There dirt road to the pit area was nothing but mud (I almost got stuck in it) and the field itself had several puddles of standing water. No where near ideal conditions to fly. Of all weekends that it rains, it has to rain on my weekend off from both the job and the kids. With the on and off rain today, I ended up spending more time tuning the engine. I have it hitting about 8500 rpm on the high side and around 2000 rpm at idle. Now this is only after 4 tanks of fuel. I should be able to get another 1000 rpm out of her once she is run more.

In order for my plane to balance, I had to add a few ounces of weight to the tail. I was expecting this due to the heavy motor I used and only a 4.8v 1000mah batt. pack. I did move the pack to the back of the fuselage in a hatch I cut out. I weighted my plane today and she came in at about 9.5 lbs. I don't have a digital scale, so it's not 100% accurate, but it is close enough for me.

I am hoping to get out to the field tomorrow. No, I am getting out to the field tomorrow. I will be going to the other field that I fly at. It is much closer to paved road and the field drains really well. So hopefully (crossing my fingers) I will have an update with new pics of the plane in the air and my flight report.

Until next time, happy flying.

rcfury,

Thanks for the polishing tip - don't know if I'll tackle that.

What spinner and adapter did you use with your Saito 100?

jon

I used a 3" Aluminum Spinner on my Saito 100. I prefer a little larger spinner. Leaves a bigger hole in the ground when you hit!

ckangaroo: Nice to see you found this thread. 3 pages of very good information. Ez2bgman really put together a nice little build/ review on the edge.

Rcjon: Well im using the 2 3/4 inch spinner with the 120 cut from tru-turn. For the prop adapter im using the 8x1.25 double jam nut kit #tt-0823-a also from tru-turn. I have my spinner sent out to a local metal shop getting a make over. Its some new plating process that wont cause the aluminum to oxidize and gives it a tougher shine that will hold up with my electric starter. I totally understand you not trying to polish the landing gear. It is really messy and take a long time.

Ez2bgman: sorry for the bad luck with the weather. Dont you hate it when the weather just hates working with you.. you get to the field and its all pretty.. unload the plane then it strikes!!!! Setting up your plane its all pretty. Start the motor and the wind picks up. I tell you mother nature hates RC planes.. haha

CK: Great to hear from you again! I think your right about my pilot. He is going on a diet soon as I am looking for ways to lighten the load a bit. Besides the 6.0V 1400mah 5cell in the tail, I had to add 2 oz lead to the nose and a half unce under the right wingtip.

Gary: Sorry to hear you got rained out. I got one flight at the new club today and it was AWESOME! There was one small glitch that had me on the "EDGE" the entire flight. MY throttle linkage was out of adjustment and I had a very high idle for the whole flight. I got very lucky and let the prop strike the dirt just barely enough to stop it on a touch-n-go. Actually it was on about the fifth touch-n-go. The bonus to the whole flight was the local IMAC guru gave me a few tips on doing 4-point rolls and I was getting fairly decent at it![8D]

I'll probably go with a 2 3/4. Sorry to probe so much, but I've had such bad experience with spinners for my Saito 100. When it was on my Ultra Stick I bought a Dave Brown Spinner for it (at considerable expense) . I ordered 2 adapters for it that didn't work. I spent an afternoon in a well stocked LHS while they opened packet after packet of adapters - none worked with the spinner I had and the Saito 100. I bought a Tru Turn Spinner and it wasn't what I wanted. I bought two adapters for this "jet" spinner with great big slots in it. When I was going through all of this, Tru-Turn didn't list Saito 100 in their "Adapter Finder". (Now they do)

I got so frustrated that I gave up. Now I have a paper sack with about $100 worth of spinners and adapters that I can't use.

Now I try to order a Tru Turn Spinner and I don't know if a Saito 100 is "a big 4 stroke" or not. I don't care about fitting it to APC props. I just want a 2 3/4" spinner for a "standard" prop and Saito 100.

What specifically have you found that works with a S100? I don't want to add any more $ to my paper sack.

jon

rcfury,

>>Well im using the 2 3/4 inch spinner with the 120 cut from tru-turn. For the prop adapter im using the 8x1.25 double jam nut kit #tt-0823-a also from tru-turn. <<

I'll put in an order from Tru Turn tomorrow.

Maybe I'll have my 540 soon. They said it would ship this week, but it's only been 4 weeks since I ordered. I have everything (except the spinner) waiting. Tonight I took the Saito 100GK off of the Ultra Stick.

jon

Sorry to hear about your spinner woes rcjon. I'm using a 2 3/4" Vortex aluminum spinner from Dave Brown. I had to do some creative engineering to get it to fit the big ***** Saito 120 crankshaft. I pulled out my calipers and got the exact measurement of the crankshaft. Then I raided my neighbors well stocked shop and found an exact match for the drill bit. Cranked up his drill press and voila, had a perfect fitting backplate. While I was at it, I also drilled out the 16x6 APC props too. Then I went back to my garage, excited that I had found everything so easily, only to realize that the APC props were too darn big to fit in the spinner cap. So out came the dremel and cutting blade and grinding bits. A little while later, and covered in aluminum dust, I had everything fitting perfectly.

Let me back a little bit. While at the LHS getting the spinner and adapter, the adapter that I actually needed (the long one) was out of stock. So I settled on the the short one. I was able to used the factory large prop nut and the short adapter to get the necessary height for the cap screw. In fact, the screw ended up about 3 mm too long and I had to chop that off with the dremel (what would we do w/o this miracle tool....). I have had no problems with this setup.

Primodus, I will get those pics of the wing gap modification that I made tomorrow. I left my gear loaded in my car and didn't feel like unloading it, only to have to reload it tomorrow to fly (hopefully ).

Until tomorrow guys, happy flying.

This is a familiar story Luke. A few years ago I had an old Great Planes Trainer .40 that I forgot to adjust the throttle linkage in. I got it up in the air only to find out I couldn't get it the throttle to trim down enough for a safe landing. Well, with plenty of over confidence I decided to bring it in for a super hot landing. When I came in for touch down my prop also hit the dirt, and killed the engine, and the Plane skipped across the field like a skipping rock and went right through a fence post. It was not a pretty site.

Since I learn things the hard way, it was no suprise that I done the exact same thing this past summer with my Old Stick .60. This time the linkage had jammed though, and it would not come down past half throttle. I was smart enough to figure out though that a landing attempt at this speed was certain disaster. So instead of making the landing attempt I just flew the Plane in cirles within good deadstick range of the strip. You know that seemed like the longest it had ever ran on a tank of fuel, but eventually it ran out, and I was in perfect position for the deadstick, and I was able to grease the Plane in for a flawless(I'm patting my back) landing. So with my own personal experience, from here on out I think I will set up good for the deadstick before I try anymore of those super hot landings.

I had a Super Sportster with a Tower Hobbies .46 engine on it. If you ever want to practice deadstick landings then that is the perfect Plane and perfect engine for unplanned Deadstick landing practice. I owe all my deadstick practice to them Tower Hobbies engines, and applaud the Super Sportsters great low speed handling during powerless flight.

To get back on the VectorFlight subject, I am just curious how long of flights you are getting with that Saito 1.20 now Luke? I have the 1.00 with the stock tank, and I am only getting about 7 minutes. I have only ran about 1 1/2 gallons through it so far though, and 1 gallon of that was ran on the ground. I am still leaning it some with every tank, but now winter is upon me, and It probally won't be till spring before the edge will go back up. With just a few minutes of Flying time, it is really hard to know what the Plane will do. I have a .72 Saito GK on a Sukoi that gets great milage, but my favorite is the .52 Magnum 4 stroke on my GP extra 300s. That thing will just run forever on a tank of fuel. Does anyone that owns the bigger Magnum 4 strokes have a fuel usage estimate?

EZ2bgman
I will be looking forward to that flight report tommorow. I hope you are able to get a long enough flight in to really see how she acts. I have 2 laps around the block with mine, and no fancy stuff. As soon as it goes up, it is time to bring it in. I will tell you though that the Saito 1.00 with a 15X6 APC drags the Plane down the runway like a Rocket, and seemed to pull it around with plenty of authority in flight. Landing was no problem, but I have had the tendency to come in a bit to fast for from fear of a tip stall, but I don't I have been anywhere close to being slow enough for that. Just going to take a bit of getting a feel for. Good Luck on the maiden.

ck,

While running my 4th tank of fuel through my Saito 120 today, I timed it. I got about 14-15 minutes out of that tank of fuel. Now it wasn't WOT the whole time. I mainly had the throttle at about 1/2, with some WOT bursts and a few moments at idle. I figure with this much power, I will be at 1/2 throttle or a bit higher during most of the flight. I also scrapped the stock tank and installed a Dubro 16 oz. tank. After talking to several flying buddies that fly Saito's, I should be able to get about 10 minutes on a tank of fuel. Only time will tell.

Later

I also bought the dubro 16 oz tank for my saito 100. I had a feeling the stock tank isn't gonna last with the fuel hungry 1.00. One of my good flying buddy uses a 14 oz tank for his .91 and barely gets 8-9 minutes...
Cant wait for your flying report.

Thanks for the fuel tank advise fellows. I am probally going to have to up my tank size as well. Here are a couple new pics of my VF edge for your viewing pleasure. Wish spring would hurry up though, so I can take a couple short videos of it in action.

ck, nice pictures, sure looks like a place one can spend a lot of time in!
Primodus, that high speed landing must be something! I got a good laugh picturing it! My first cub didnt want to come down, the idle was apparently too high and I almost crashed it trying to force it down. Luckily the engine stopped and I dead sticked it in. But that was a cub and easier to dead stick than the Edge.

Well guys,

I think mother nature doesn't like me. I headed to the other field this morning. As I was getting closer I can see this dense fog ahead. Sure enough, the field and surrounding area was blanketed by a thick layer of fog that just didn't want to lift. After an hour or so, the fog had barely lifted and there was only about a 50 ft. ceiling. So instead of wasting a trip out there. I broke out the Edge, assembled her and placed her on the field. Everyone at the field was blown away by the looks and construction of these VF planes. I fueled her up and used this time to run the Saito 120 a bit more.

After another hour or so, the fog lifted more and gave a ceiling of about 150 ft. So it came down to whether or not I was up to flying in these conditions. I had already flown my buddy's Magic and knew that I could handle the current conditions. I fueled the Edge up. Just as I was getting ready to light her up, I looked her over one last time. That's when I found one of the hinges on the right aileron had broken . So my maiden flight has been pushed back yet again. I think mother nature was actually giving me a hint.... So my next project is to cut all the CA hinges from the wings and replace them with Robart Hinge Points.

I wasn't going to let this ruin my day though. I went to the car and pulled out my H9 Aresti 40 and got her ready. I fueled her up and started her. I spent a few minutes warming up the engine and checking the tuning on it. Byt this time the fog had lift a lot more and 3 of our members were already airborne. I taxied out and down the runway she went. She was up in about 50 ft. I climbed out at a decent attitude and banked left. I straightened out to check the aileron trim since I took two Futaba 9202's out of the wing and put them in the Edge. Just then the motor (O.S. 50SX) quit. Oh &$%@.... I was nowhere near in the ideal position. After my climb out and turn, I was now over the trees at the edge of the field and half way passed the field. I remained calm and called out deadstick. I leveled the wings and pushed down to maintain airspeed. I made a nice shallow left turn and was able to line up. I set her down with no futher damage (whew...).

I looked her over and couldn't see why she deadsticked. So I restarted her. Took off again and the same exact thing happened again. This time I was able to land her within a few feet from me. I took her to the pit area and placed her on my stand. As I was taking the wing off, I noticed quite a bit of fuel dripping out. I removed the wing and noticed fuel everywhere. I removed the fuel tank and fuel-soaked foam. Upon inspecting the tank, I discovered that the screw on the rubber stopper had come loose and allowed the tank to leak. Luckily I had coated the fuel compartment with thinned epoxy. I took this as another sign and decided to pack it up for the day. Oh well, there will always be next weekend.

At least I have a few things to keep me occupied this week...

Here a couple of pics of the plane at the field before I noticed the bad aileron hinge. Later guys.

Gary, Sorry to hear about your bad day at the field. However, I am glad that you found the bad hinge before you flew it. Who knows what would have happened then. [X(] Keep the faith, You have a beautiful plane that will knock your socks off in the air!

ckangaroo70:

I can't help but rub it in a bit - but it was sunny, calm, and about 70 degrees today down here in Gawja. Our flying field was SRO. More pilots than we have at a fly-in. Only problem was air traffic. Honestly, I would taxi out and hold short of the runway to wait for a gap in traffic to take out.

Sorry to see those planes hanging around the hangar.

rcjon

Gary, I would think mother nature loves you! Imagine what could have happened if that hinge had broken after you had taken off, likely some damage at least. And the other plane came down safely too. So by my account a very lucky day indeed!

I havent had any problems with the CA hinges so far. I am thinking if maybe some brand of CA may react with the hinge material and others may not. If this is the case then it may be the smart thing to change all of them or at least pull on them hard just to make sure.

Your Edge looks awesome. I learned that a small amount of STP vinyl protector spray really works well to preserve the finish. But only after the cowl decals or any other trims are applied, the STP will prevent any adhesive from sticking to the surface.

Gary,

Sorry you didn't get to fly the Edge today. I decided to go with Robarts on my plane. It will be my first Robart install.

I got three planes out today - and put them away as stuff broke. One flap servo on the Ultra Stick wouldn't work. Throttle stop screw on the Super Tiger 51 (Twist power plant) disappeared in flight, and I can't get the muffler on the Pro 46 (Tiger Stick) tight.

Funny thing happened with the Twist - I was flying and discovered I could only throttle it down to about 1/4 throttle. After a few passes at the field I was messing around with a semi-hot landing - stalled and landed it in the high grass off the runway. I put the Tx down and took that embarrassing long walk across the field. When I got to the Twist, it was still running. If I had brought the Tx, at least I could have driven it back.

rcjon

rcjon,

Glad to hear you got some stick time today. At least someone did. [sm=thumbup.gif]

I guess it was ok that I wasn't able to maiden the Edge today. I would rather fix/replace some hinges rather than have to pick up the pieces and fix a lot more. I am determined to get her in the air next weekend, weather permitting.

I am also going to repair the fuel tank leak in the Aresti and finish the reinforcement job on the tail group of my US40 that I started 2 months ago. I love flying my US40. I have never flown another plane that can get as slow as it can when you activate the "crow" feature.

Talk to ya later.