Chris

The way I did my belly pan is really easy and only needs two screws. I kept some of the forward verticle bulkhead of the belly pan attached. I had to trim a little at the corners where the rails at the bottom of the fuselage pass, but I kept about half of it. This portion is going to pass over the fuse bulkhead behind the landing gear. I drilled a hole in that bulkhead through the front surface of the belly pan where that little dimple is at. I backed up the hole on the inside (aft side) of the bulkhead with a piece of 1/8 ply. I cut about a one inch piece of carbon fiber arrow shaft and after drilling the fuse bulkhead and the front of the belly pan to fit, glued the arrow shaft in so about 3/8 of it protrudes in front of the bulkhead. I slid the belly pan over that, and secured the aft end of the belly pan with a small screw into the fuse bottom edge rail. One trick that makes it even a better fit is if you go to an archery store and buy a few used carbon fiber arrow shaft. Some have a small aluminum ferrule at one end that has a taper on it. That is the end I had protruding forward so the hole in the belly pan fits very well. It holds the front on securely, and is easily removed to get to the wing bolts.


bob

That is a pretty good idea there... There is most definatly some good ideas on this thread to make this good flying plane into a better one.
Hope all goes well with your VF.

similar directions on the website... it is how I did mine, but it is still a pain in the arse

http://www.vectorflight.com/Edge54066Instructions.html

No, the Edge 540 is not a pain the the arse. The belly cowl on the VF 58 in Extra, now that is a pain in the arse!. But it is actually easier to just build a wood and monocoat one than it was to deal with it. I delt with it til a short arrival.... into a ditch.... dumb place to put a ditch on short final just off the flying surface!.... But was very easy. I just took a 1/4X1/4 balsa strip, cut groves about half way thru it perpendicular to its length so it would bend with the wing, and glued it on. Did a back bulkhead for it and a front bulkhead to match the fuse formers and then glued a 1/4X1/4 bottom edge between them. Sanded and monocoated. Finally cut the two holes for the wing bolts and glued in wing tubes. Worked great and no hastle. Unfortuantely, elegant solutions like VF's nice molded belly pan is sometimes not as workable as a tad of building. But the Edge pan done like the pics on the web site is not much of a deal. But what do I know? I'm an old scratch builder. Heck, I'm so greatful to have such a pretty,well built and superb flying plane arf'd for me that if I ever come face to face with Chuck or any of the other folk who used to be VF I'll still kiss em just out of gratitude! Nothing will get someone out of control line and into RC quicker than scratch building competative control line precision aerobatic ships.

bob

Hey guys!!! Stop the builds and check out the new OS at Tower's web site! Its an AX 1.20 2 cycle and w/0 muffler weighs less than a Super Tigre .90 without muffler!!!! Oh mannnnnnnn! Does my edge need one of these!

bob

Flew a half gallon thru my Edge yesterday and really enjoyed the results of my weight reduction, etc. The hi-torque rudder servo works great in the tail section and I did notice alot more responce from the control surfaces after taping the hinge gaps.
The OS 91FX worked flawlessly since I did the old duel hi-speed needle clip trick. No more moving needle while in flight. No more deadsticks. I was running a 14x5 APC all day. It's very thin and I'm not sure I like it . I'm going to try a few differant props . Anyone have a prop suggestion for the 91 ?

I dunno, $100 bucks more than my Evolution 1.00 - which is amazing in this airplane. I've been running a 14x6 prop and its fast even with that! Imagine using the required prop for the OS 120AX: Propeller: 15x10-12 or 16x8-10

Yep, exactly how I did mine. It worked fine and its a good tight fit. Time will tell but I'm happy with it.

I ordered a couple of 15x4W props after Sundays flight. There was almost no wind except for a very slight breeze and the evolution 1.00 and a 14x6 was pretty much ballistic.
It was almost impossible to find a good throttle setting. Half throttle was WAY too much, 1/4 throttle was ok but geeze, I was either at 1/4 - 1/3 or idle with very little room to make adjustments. Either I was accelerating or I was at idle.

I also noticed too much acceleration in downlines - it didn't want to slow down, so hoping the bigger diameter prop will help with braking. The engine was running "Ok" due to the cold weather, not great- but ok. Even though, vertical performance was again, like a rocket.

We'll see if the 15x4W does what I want.

I too switched to a bigger prop. 15x6 APC The 14x5 Thin apc was spooling way too fast on the 91FX. On extreme high speed passes I was getting some minor buffeting. Not a true high speed stall but getting uncomfortably close . The Edge's control surfaces are too big for high speed and too small for decent 3/D. So I'm going for the best sports flying prop/speed combo I can.

actually yes the OS 120 is going to find a home in my new showtime 4d. My edge is taking a break this season. Gotta keep it a live as long as possible. Or until VF gets back in business. hehe.. Actually more like until my field becomes flyable again. I just recieved word that the date has been pushed back to may... YUCK!!

Well...It's now over 2 Months since my parts and plane arrived...and I still haven't started working on her...

All the parts are still in their bags, and sitting on a card table.

I don't know what's wrong with me..but I have absolutely no motivation in this hobby all of a sudden!

Must be the winter getting to me...

Or more likely..I've had enough of the old fly, break, repair,fly, crash, repair routine.

I leave the house with a plane, all polished up and looking perfect....and end up taking home a pile of toothpicks!

I think I've developed a severe fear of crashing, and it's got me stopped cold!

Don't really know when I'm going to start her...

Anyone else gotten through this phase of the hobby...I sure could use some pointers on how to change my head around!

Larry

Been there Larry. You just need to set some goals. Before you ever even load up your plane decide for yourself what your going to do when you get into the air. Am I going to work on my landings ? Am I going to practice aerobatics ? Just stick with the goals of the day. Don't jump off the runway and make a couple of circuits around the field and then decide what your going to do. Have a plan.
And the repair/build blues gets us all sometimes. Got to set goals for that too when the RC urges just aren't there.
Throw a dart at the calendar and pick that day to start the Edge build.
Believe me,,, when this weird windy weather passes and we have a few gorgeous days in a row. You'll be jones'n to fly again.
and break, repair, fly, crash, repair ,, etc, etc..........................................trust me,,,, I'm a doctor,,,, err,,,I mean I drink Dr. Pepper.

Larry

What Kurt says is very true. Back when I used to try to fly control line aerobatics, I just kept destroying one model after another and was getting very down on it. Then I got a real stunt expert to mentor me. His first RULE was though shalt not fly anything but the aerobatic pattern in order every flight. Never vary. Miss a maneuver, you just keep on going but never refly it. That way you always knew what came next, and where you were supposed to be going next. Immediately my planes began to last more than one season.

I have found the same thing in rc. Not having a plan leads to finding the airplane somewhere you don't intend for it to be and you are reacting and trying to figure out where to go next without having your ducks in a row. The free form of flying outside aerobatic sequences that is sport flying leads to this alot though. What I have found has really helped me was to start to fly planes that are intended to flyt that way. Things like 3d profiles, indoor electrics, small electric wings that you cannot kill like the Super-fly line. These types of planes really thrive on beging able to keep flying no mater how far bent out of shape you get the plane. And they encourage you to go there because it doesn't nessecarily kill them when you do screw up. Its made my other flying much more secure because I don't need as much lead time to figure out what to do next or how to extrecate myself. My sport flying is better, my sequence flying is better.

The last thing is the control line stunt flier's #1 rule of getting out of a screw up: give it full down elevator. Sounds wrong I know but it really works. When we screw up we are usually slow to realize it til we are really out of room and the normal reaction is to give it up. But if you could have done that and it would work, would you really feel out of position and hope? There is NEVER enough room to get out of it giving it up elevator. In RC you are stalled in which case feeding in more up is gonna kill the plane, or you are inverted or at least pointing towards the ground and probably already past verticle and low which will not give you room to save it by going up. Its uncanny, but it almost always saves the day.

There is always hope man! .... but then I am the kid who when trying to learn how to fly 1/2 control line models as a kid crashed 49 times in a row before I fianally got one sucessful lap. (instructions said to take 52 ft of string and make the control lines... I thought it was 52 ft for each line.... my grandma is slow but at least she's old. )

Injoy the VF plane. THere ain't no more and they are such a joy! I have one of the last small Extras on the shelf to do someday when I wear out my Edge and can return one of my ST .90's to the nose. Its always been my favorite VF package.... but I haven't really cranked up to full power on my Edge yet. There's nothing like the smell of glo fuel exhaust in the morning!

bob branch

Larry - I'm new to planes but I did cars for 17 years competitively (1/8 off and on road among others.)

Here's my 2c on crashes and “hobby burnout�...

1. It's OKAY to take a break every now and then. The bug always comes back and burnout is normal… especially when things aren’t going well I have found a streak of bad luck and crashes can often happen when you’re starting to reach a new level. It hurts a lot less in cars though. I've taken a couple of breaks from cars which did me good. I've given them up for planes now though … not enough time or money for two “big-boy� hobbies and after 17 years… well time for a change… I wish I started planes a long time ago too

2. I noticed I developed a TON of bad habits with cars - or at least didn't develop good ones. I've got 100 hrs of flight time now... I've lost 2 planes due to failures (one wing broke in a snap roll, one due to a switch failure (an ARF with a pre-installed rusty switch)...) 1 due not cycling my brand new Tx battery so when the Tx voltage indicator went off I had about 60 seconds to land and didn't quite make it (D'OH!)... “only� 1 due to a failure to react to a stall and making it worse with up-elevator. Luckily only two of those were gas planes and 3 were fairly “inexpensive� electrics.

My pre-flight checks are getting better but I should still be more thorough with mid-flight checks. I have been really good about doing what Larry said - always plan what you're going to fly and if you want to do new / more difficult things use a cheap foamy that’s designed to be very forgiving first

But the thing that amazes me is how many crashes I've seen in 4 months of flying... sometimes 5 or 6 a DAY. And many, many, many of them are "failures" of equipment due to not checking stuff, installing things badly, things wearing out, faulty connections etc... I'd say at least 70 to 80% of the crashes I've seen are NOT due to dumb thumbs - just a lack of following consistent procedures and rushing to get up in the air, 25% of the rest are stalls and 5% are dumb thumbs when learning new things and people getting shot down (that’s the worst.)

I'm using checklists now. People make fun of me at the field... but I haven't lost a plane recently. I also have Scott Stoops book… I stopped skipping ahead like I was and I am slowly working on each manuver to try and perfect them now. In the simulator I go nuts and try new things but I still decide what I’m going to fly before I try it.

3. I practice stalls and landing approaches every time I fly... what I do for that is for one or two flights every time I go out I go up high (not too high - 3 or 4 mistakes high) and I just snap vertically end over end at 1/4 to 1/2 throttle until I'm stalled and have no idea where I am... cut throttle and center sticks... on most of my planes they recover to the point that I can re-orient and fly... on the ones that drop a wing badly sometimes I have to "help" with ailerons and down elevator once the wing is flying again. During the practice flight I also fly straight and level at low speed high AOA until it stalls... as if I am coming in too slow on landing... and for the rest of the flight I do touch and goes. I have recently started doing cross-wind approach practice too. Seems simple but landing is a precision manuver…

Another motivator is to do a dry fit on your VF. Just dryfit everything you can ,,, bolt the landing gear on and step back and look it over. It helps me anyway. And the VF Edge in my opinion is one gorgous plane.

Yea, or just visualize it in a nice verticle line.... that unique Edge wing shape really is emphasized by the wing's color scheme. Nothing else has that wing shape... and verticle... hmmmm. it does that so well.

bob branch

well you guys have done it now!!!! im gonna have to go fly again

Larry, i may be heading for the same thing and ive only been at it for 2 years but ive already planned on just taking a break when i feel it hit and just oil everything up and put it out of the way for a while and i am certain that i will pull it back out when i get tired of doing what ever else im gonna do, cause i cant imagine anything else that i can have as much fun as i have with these planes i have, stick to it and it will return

goood luck

Another cure for burnout is to try a totally different kind of model, something you would normally not do and normally not have interest in. I did late this summer for just that reason. Got a 3D profile. I have no interest in 3D, I like normal beautiful big sequence maneuvers. I hate profiles! After leaving control line I swore I'd never have another profile. I hate uggly airplanes. There is just no reason to build ugly airplanes.

Man am I having a hoot!!!. My regular sequence type maneuvers are much better, I can hover my Edge, and I no longer worry about loosing an aiplane in some bizarre attitude. ... as I did my first VF Extra..... It was just the little bit of freshness I needed to rejuvinate my passion for the hobby.

bob branch

thats exactly why i bought this plane Bob, i have been flying ucd 46 and 60's and i wanted something more scale and i love it , so you are very right, if you think you dont like something --- try it you may like it

I here mention that VF is no more.There web site is still up but not accepting orders right now.No mention that they have closed their doors.Just found these planes and would love to get one as the price and quality seem to be bar none.

They took off the announcement that they were closing for a short time. We don't know how long they will be down but they are re-evaluating their business plan.
Personally, I would have paid a little more for the plane, especially if it would have kept them in business! Great airplane.

I keep checking every few days hoping to find a big back in business sign on there website one of these days. Really nice Planes, and I hope they do indeed try to make another go of it. After owning the VF Edge540, I still havn't marked a VectorFlight Extra off my list yet! Heck they may even come back with something totally new and great............................................. ....who knows?

Maybe some gas 3/D ARFs or a biplane . Hope they come back.

Yea, I think I'd have to buy a 28%-33% VF Edge 540 if one was ever available