Mine was the same thing on the machine. Very touchy, I just put it on the machine to where it will stand still with no tipping and checked and made sure the stab was parellel. just took a bit of patience since you found a spot on the machine where ti worked keep it there and burn some fuel. You want to get the cg as close as possible so you wont have plane that will turn into a pile of toothpicks. Fly it inverted and go from there.

My day at the field was cut short. It may still have been a touch tail heavy, not sure. Behaved very "pitchy". It wasn't such a problem in flight, actually performed rather well though I didn't get a chnace to attempt knife edge again. First flight was cut short by some engine trouble. Went dead stick on me when I goosed to go around and landed a little hard, no damage. Still dhowed a tendancy to go nose up when the throttle is chopped. Second flight I was trying to practice landings as I seem to have a lot of difficulty bringing this bird in. Did one bouncy touch and go and then lined up for another with a touch of flaperon. She took a mysterious nose dive on final, I recovered and decided I would abandon flaperons for now and wait for a more calm day to try that again. Conditions were moderately gusty and crosswind. Lined up for another landing, took the same myterious nose dive on final, recovered and continued on in. Got it over the field and was trying to fly her down when she began to pitch up again, I apllied down to dropthe nose then up to flare but the flare never happened. Ripped the gear off and did a little damage to the bottom of the fuse, nothing too awful serious. Will repair and return agin with a more forward CG in hope to fix the pitch up at idle. Inverted required no down elevator at all, elevator trim was a very slight down setting.

God bless,

-BunnMan

Well...My girl arrived in a nice big box!

Everything arrived in good condition...but I've been working outside all day..tooooooooo tired to start on her!

Maybe tomorrow!

One thing I noticed was the weight of the Fuse...
Everyone here talks about how heavy it is....Mine feels light as a feather!!!!!

As a matter of fact...I don't even have a way to get a weight on it...it doesn't register on any scale I own!


I really want to get a weight before I start!

Only one bad thing about my plane thusfar.

I ordered it with factory slotted ailerons and wings...and they must have missed that!

The shape of the edges tells me I'm goint to need to make a jig....I hope I don't ruin the wing...I SUCK at slotting!

Larry

Bunn,,, sounds like your doing great with the new VF. Sorry about the gear and underside. But I'm sure it'll be even better when your done bulking it up a tad.
Maybe it's just me,,, but of the two Edge540s I've owned , both like a tiny bit of forward CG compared to the Extra300 or Giles202, etc, etc, etc. They seem to get a bit harder to land when tail heavy than others do. Although, too much nose weight and it's a jet on landing or worse..... a deadstick. I found the best position on approach was at a little higher altitude than normal. Then point the plane at the runway and leave the throttle on a high idle. It was hard for me at first to trust myself on this type of landing but the VF Edge always flaired in and slowed down real nice before touching down then rolled to a stop. When I've tried a standard approach using less throttle and gradually dropping alt from a level position I always found the Edge to pop up or dive down a hair. I guess what I'm trying to say is that flying the Edge downward with power works better than trying to use a glide pattern type landing approach. Those wings just wanna keep flying even though you don't.

Larry,,,, glad to see you got your new bird. I've PM'd you with some info on the hinge slotting. Also,,, if you need anything feel free to call me anytime. I may not know the answer but I'll help you become more confused over the question. LOL [sm=confused.gif][sm=lol.gif]

I hear ya on the landing approach there Sturtz. That is exactly the scenario I had. It wouldn't stay straight on the approach, came in on a slow rolling "porpose" pattern that would worsen without warning. Definately going to move the CG forward after the repairs. Had it balanced at 4 1/4" with an empty tank. I'll move it to 4" with thte tank empty (heard that somewhere before )

John has been in touch with me twice already after my posting the landing damage. Man these folks take great care of their customers! Hopefully the replacement parts will be here soon so I can get her back to the flightline.

God bless,

-BunnMan

4 1/4" from the leading edge? that is a tad tail heavy. I have mine at around 3 6/8 and im very happy with it. When i had it at 4 i had very bad coupling on knife edge and when i moved the cg up forward it helped alot.
Well I think all my flying is done this winter. They finally closed the field for repairs. We are going to reposition the field to get away from a major highway that was on the South side of the field. And to get away from these stupid power lines that seemed to pop up on the edge of the runway. The tenitive plan is having all the repairs and construction done by spring of next year. I cant wait becasue my plane has been collecting dust for a while.

well i recieved mine today (saturday) also, what a surprise i walked into the garage and there it sat on a chair, i about fell over, wasnt expecting it on the weekend[X(]
was in great condition and im with Larry, my fuse also seems light, but man after flying a ucd the wings look little, but thats what the doc ordered (im ready!!)
after reading the last few posts i think ill go with the 3.75 cg right off the bat

thanks guys

also remember that the elevator is VERY twichy and responsive... make sure that you are using the low rates suggested (they ARE enough) and that you have some expo in there too.......

Bunnman - i have the same roll problem with the VF Edge. Rolls axial and fast one direction, slow and corkscrews the other. What did you do to fix your problem?

I had a radio set up problem. This Tracker III is my first computer radio and seems to have a flawed flaperon program as it appllies "flaperon differerntial" differently to each channel. I had to set up my differential mechanically then set the sub trims and endpoints for each channel to get identical throws on both channels. Mine are set to 3/4" up and 1/2" down on high rate with sealed hinge lines and that's PLENTY fast! Measure your aileron throws to make sure they are the same side to side and that they travel further up than down.

God bless,

-BunnMan

thanks exeter, i planed on going real soft and with expo on this baby! i have maidened all my own planes,(7 to date and i know i need all the forgivness i can get, i just fo to fly it, no tricks, well at least untill i get the feel for it even though it could be a minuite or two

the fuse weighed in at 1lb 5.5 oz and one wing with aileron was 12 oz, seems good so far

Well, I got my bird out to the airfield today. All I wanted to do was get the engine broke-in. My power plant on this bird is a OS .91FX. I have to do a few minor adjustments and it will be already for next Saturday. Pic will come in the next few days. The main thing I need to do is adjust the throws. Any ideas? Please chime on in what throws I show have or start with the instructions. Let me know. I got the CG at 4". I measure the CG with plane upside down. That is correct. Right?? I think with a mid-wing plane you can do it either way. Please let me know. I thought it was easier to do it that way to get my battery in the right place.

Later,

John

I have two Edge 540s. The VF CGs upside down better than the 120 size other brand. You should be fine at 4". If it acts like everything is twitchy on low rates move the cg up 1/2" and try it there.
What kind of radio do you run John ? If it's got 2 to 3 rates available we could all pitch in and post our rates and expo settings .
I use Futaba so it's going to be alot differant than say a JR or HiTech.
Running the mighty OS.91FX here as well. Found the perfect prop for the VectorFlight. It's a 14x5 narrow bladed APC. Let's the rpms rev up but keeps the plane slow enough to dance. I got my low end set for a good clean idle and dial in the high speed backing off about 4 to 5 clicks richer. I found that the motor is more reliable like that and as you gain altitude the engine naturally leans out.
If you can get use to mixing sort of rich on the ground you'll have less deadsticks. Don't ask how I found this info out the hard way.[]

hey guys, how long and how many pushrods did ya get with the package? i only got 3 and they were way too short. one 12in long and two 6.5in long.i think i should have got 7pieces for the set up and they should have been alot longer[]

Gary,,, you should have three long pushrods at approximately 32" a piece and one short one for the throttle.
Guess you'll need to buy a few pushrods . [&o]

Wow - that's sad to hear VF are going away. I have an Edge 540 I'm expecting this week. Rather than start the build right away ... if there is anyone out there with one of these planes already I'd be willing to sell for what I paid. Honestly I'd rather have something that I can get parts for. Not that I plan on needing parts - but you know - stuff happens.

my email is [email protected]

Hey Gjeffers:

I thought I did not have enough pushrods, but I had to really dig for them in the box. They packed it too good.

Sturtz, I think I got the same radio that you have - 7CAP. I have dual elevators and I used a reversing y-harness (recommend by Sturtz, thank you very much [8D]) The reversing y-harness is from MPI. I did not want to chance it using the two collars. I think it is too risky.

You guys give me your best throws!!!

John

On the pushrod matter I just remembered mine were taped to the inside of the box.

My High Rates: 3/D Rates
Ail= 100% Expo= -28%
Elev= 140% Expo= -29%
Rud= 140% Expo= -5%

Mid Rates: Acrobatic
Ail= 80% Expo= -25%
Elev= 80% Expo= -25%
Rud= 100% Expo= -5%

Low Rates: While drinking beer
Ail= 66% Expo= -21%
Elev= 70% Expo= -20%
Rud= 71% Expo= -9%
These and everyone elses throws will vary because of differant servos/servo arms/control horns and placements.

Oh,,, and something I just discovered recently about the Futaba 7CAP. You can assign the seperate elevator halves after all.
It's done in the P-MIX and I'd be happy to explain it to you sometime. I'm still using the rev-Y-Harness for now but at least I know how to mix elev servos now.

Dual Elevetor - You are correct, but you can only use the subtrim and not the normal trim. I talked to Futaba and Bax on RCU. Not pleased about this. Let me know if you found different. If you use dual elevator in the p-mix then you can only trim the right elevator. Can you believe this? Unbelievable.

Forgot about that one Manny. [:@][:@] I still have my eye on the 9C because of that. I admit I did not test this P-Mix out to make sure. But I hate to think of the guys using it and trimming their elev during flight. []

i just got an e-mail back from vf and they said they ran out of pushrods and id have to buy my own, no big deal but im beginning to wish i had got the pac model already, but i sure do like the quality of this so i guess im looking for pushrods,and i tore the box apart already looking for them (been there before)

Sturtz: Yeah the 9 cap does have a better dual elevator setup (ailevator). But as what a lot of people have noticed is a small delay. Im still trying to find away around it.

My pushrods I had to dig for them but they were actually inside the pushrod sleeves and taped down. I was searching endlessly for them taking everything out of the box and there were right under my nose the whole time.

Ill have to dig though my old TX to get my rates. Since i just recieved my 9 super i got a lot of programming to re-do. Of course the memories for the planes dont transfer to the 9.

any tip on how ya hinged the ailerons on straigt?????????????????????

Ok,, wish I had taken step by step pics of how to hinge these ailerons. But I'll try and describe it.

1. Lay the ailerons along the trailing edge (TE) the way they will be attached. (dry fit). The underside of each aileron has a 1/4" fold from the covering job. Good way to tell up from down on this part.
2. Use a couple strips of blue painters tape to hold them in place. Then take a fine-point non-permanent marker or ink pen and mark the location of each area you plan to hinge. (Use the acual hinge as a guide for marking.)
3. Take a new thin bladed XActo , starting 1/16th from the edge of the TE. MAKE YOUR SLOTS AT AN ANGLE TOWARDS THE CENTER.
Do this with both the aileron and the TE of the wing. Take your time. Don't rush !! Keep dry-fitting between to make sure each one is even and in-line with the wing.
4. You have exactly 1/2" of wood between you and the foam. Your hinges don't need to be any deeper than this. If you choose to use regular non-foam safe CA you will liquify the foam beyond the 1/2" of wood.

The same angled process is used to install point hinges as well. The trick to those is to cut off excess segments of the point that might damage the foam. Normally hinge glue or epoxy is used with the point style hinges so foam damage from reg CA is avoided.

Take your time and dry fit every one till your positive they are straight and true.

P.S. Oh yeah,,,, be careful with the CA because it will soak through the vinyl and slightly stain the white colored areas around the hinge.

I used robart hinges on mine since I thought they would be the easiest to install given the differing angles on the aileron and wing. It's a little trial and error on the proper angle, but it's well worth the time. Hopefully you have a drill press so you can set the angle. it turned out to be around 10 degrees, but the angle is slightly different for the aileron and the wing. I made 2 jigs out of 1x2 with a brass tube insert that has the same i.d. as the drill bit. One jig for the wing, one for the aileron. the photo really explains what I did. After installation, the surfaces lined up exactly. If you want to go this route, PM me and I can provide more info and pics.