Come to think of it ,, after I sealed the gaps in the aileron and elev I was using a smaller prop on my 91FX than the 15x6 I'm using now. Once while I was making a high speed pass I noticed some high speed buffeting. Kinda scary,,, and I bet without the hinge tape and extra ca hinges I would have lost an aileron from flutter.
Shakes,, were you flying pretty fast ?

Long story short...

I'm looking for good quality plane for a YS 110.

THe VF Edge Is No More.......

THanks for all the help......


Larry

Not really, but we put it through hell last weekend - blenders to upright flat spin may have been the culprit. I'll check after the blenders today but I think its all good now I noticed some hinge tape had slipped and allowed air to move through so it may have been flutter that was the cause.

Sorry to hear that your Edge is no more! You shouldn't have any trouble finding a Plane to drop that ys 110 into. Just make sure it is suited for the ys 110. The ys 110 is actually more engine than what your VF edge needed IMO, so hopefully you can find something that is a good match for that powerhouse engine. Maybe something like a 90 size Funtana. Good luck with your search.

What happened Larry ?

She never made it off the workbench.....

While building..

Bad Omens...Parts that SHOULD BE STRONG just snapping...

Managed to break a stringer just tightening the Pitts Muffler on the engine....

Drilling out to install the brass inserts for the cowling...and managed to put the drillbit STRAIGHT through the plywood horizontal stiffeners ON BOTH SIDES of the firewall...

By the time I had the cowling fitted...I had 3 major structural problems that needed to be repaired before going any further in the build!

One was my fault..the other two WERE NOT!!!!

I know there is no way I can prove anything..but I know my bird was one of the last to come off the line before they closed their doors....QC Issue????


I'm not angry any more...but she is GONE..
Little tiny pieces GONE!

All gone..



I already ordered a H9 Funtana 90 to replace her....Jusat ordered it!

SHe was a pretty plane...

It was a matter of the old "Is the juice Worth The Squeeze" putting all that extra effort into a plane with ZERO parts support.

She was weakened in areas that needed to be STRONG...and I lost faith that she wouldn't fail Mid flight.


Larry

The two main complaints that you would normally see come up about VF edges were generally just a couple cosmetic things like the wheel pants and the belly pan. The rest of the Plane generally has had a reputation of being built extremely durable. I am sorry to hear that your Edge had to be the exception. Hope the Funtana works out better for you.

I can't agree more!!!!!

THat's why I really have to assume it was me!!!

Everyone seemed to be really happy with their bird....But Mine just had Gremlins....

I mean it really was a situation where everytime I made one step foward....I had something to repair!!!!

Here is one particular instance....

I was getting ready to epoxy a 1/4 " pc of Ply to beef up the LG area...and decided to remove the factory installed 1/4-20 blind nuts for later use... (3 of them)

I got a scrap 1/4-20 allen cap screw..screwed it into the blind nut...then used a wrench and tapped the screw to push it out the back.

One the first one...I heard a "SANP" after about 2-3 medium taps....

I started flexing here...squeezing there.... to look for the source of the crunch.....

the landing gear bulkhead had broken it's glue joint with the area that the bellypan is supposed to attach!!


Just from the vibration of a few taps?!?!?!

If I had to guess....Bad Glue??????



Like I said...there were 3 MAJOR repair issues I had to fix before going further in the build...


I hit my own limit...said enough...called my self a bull in a china shop....lead hands....and a few other nice things....and gave up!~


Really...REALLY am glad that you all are having a great time with your birds!!!!

Like I said.....it HAS GOT TO BE ME..and /Or...My stupid luck!

Sorry to hear that Larry.

That is a big bummer. You could be correct that things started to fall when they were about to close the doors.
My plane has been sitting in my hangar waiting for some extra time. Since im currently trying to finish my degree all my extra time has been trying to accomplish my main goal. The field i currently fly is STILL in repair so no flying has been a thought.

i have one. i also have the nylon gear for it. it's nib.

The Edge? Lucky
Mine is still flying....but I don't want to think about what can happen

I flew mine once, bent the gear. I got the Dubro gear but never put it on. Still sitting on the bench. Build it up and fly that thing.

Hello all,

After lurking on this list for some time, I finally have a maiden flight report of my own. Mine is powered by a Super Tigre 90, currently with a 13x6 prop, based in what I've read in this thread, but I have a 14x6 waiting. The engine turns 11,200rpm on the ground with the 13x6. I am flying with a Futaba 6EXAS, with ailerons on ch1 and 6, including flaperons mixed in. I am using -25% expo on the elevator on both rates, since I've heard on this list and from another Vectorflight edge owner at the field that the elevator is twitchy.

54 degrees F, winds calm to 6mph, aimed straight down the runway to slightly behind me when it was blowing. Take off was straight down the runway, elevator all the way back and pressure on right rudder, rolling into the throttle, ease up on the elevator, add just a touch of right rudder, tail comes up, then plane is airborne. Yikes, need left aileron right away, lots of it!

Get plane level, let it climb at full throttle, let it bank right, steeper than I want to, but still needing left aileron to keep the plane from rolling over. Finish the turn, heading downwind, needing lots of aileron to keep it level, but I do keep it level. Next turn, steep again, plane is starting to scare me, and I noticed it is twitchy in roll as I fight the tendency to roll right. Let it climb more, ease off on the throttle some, and finally reach down and put several beeps of left aileron trim in. I managed as S turn as I did this, not entirely on purpose, but at least I know the plane will actually bank left.

Plane is now flying wings level, and I relax some. Still a bit twitchy in roll, but less so now that I can hands off the aileron in straight ahead flight. Needs some up elevator, but not much, a couple beeps maybe. Fly a couple laps to relax a bit, plane maintains heading, still becoming accustomed to the turns, which are very big. My pattern is huge, but I don't feel like yanking the plane around with elevator while it is banked so steeply in the turns. Funny how I always thought my fellow flyers bank too much, now here I am doing it.

Try a roll at 1/3 throttle. Interesting. Plane rolls right around that spinner, which is (can't think of a better word) really, really pretty. Cool, just like you guys all say, axial rolls! It is slower than I expected, but I have not sealed the hinges yet and I'm only at 1/3 throttle. Try a few more, then a two point roll. Plane stops roll instantly. Cool. Needs some elevator pressure to stay level inverted, but I am used to that with my other planes, and I can fix this one(thrust angle, CG). Try one roll at hight rates, now that's more like it. It's like someone is holding the spinner and rotating the plane, they're so axial. I really impressed!

After six minutes(don't how fast this engine drinks fuel yet), try a landing. Thanks ALL TO YOU GUYS, I fly it in on several clicks of throttle, fly it to the runway, reach the runway about one or two feet off, and cut to idle, ready on the elevator for it to drop. I must have the golden touch tonight, as the plane slowly descends, add elevator, descends faster, add faster, matching it because I am ready for it, slight rudder pressure as wind comes up behind me, and three point the plane right on the center stripe with full elevator. No bounce, nothing, just greased it! Believe it or not, I practiced in my head, running through the advice that y'all provided, and it worked beautifully. I am SO psyched, this means I can handle this plane.

Sit down, make several notes on my PDA about the plane's behavior before I forget, wait till my fingers stop shaking. Fill up the tank; cool, tank is not even half empty(15 turns out of 40 on the old hand crank fuel pump), so I plan next flight for 10 minutes. Adjust idle(it was a tad fat), then it occurs to me: after all the preparation, I never did check the lateral balance. Idiot. Hoping this is why I needed so much left aileron, my buddy helps me check it. Sure enough, it tips over towards the engine cylinder. Requires 1/2 oz of wing weight, which is not much, but my hopes are up. Also, add -25% expo on ailerons, both rates.

Second flight, here we go. Another nice take off, engine responding better as I roll into the throttle faster, get airborne, and sure enough, now I need pressure on right aileron. Climb out, take out some of the left aileron trim and enjoy the plane. Fly at 1/2 throttle now. Try some loops, and sheesh they are big. And a little corkscrewed, but I chalk that up to me not entering level, for sure, but suspect need more right thrust. Try a vertical, and yup, plane wants to tip over to the left. Odd, I have right thrust built in. Plane far less twitchy in roll, looks like aileron expo was the right move, but I also think -25% is too much. Play with throttle, especially full throttle, boy those loops get big. Ten minutes later, come in for another landing, not as nice as the first, not enough rudder and I land barely into the grass, just a tad harder than the first time. Getting too comfortable with the slow speed, vow to let it touchdown faster next time, as I ran out of elevator again. Tank needs 24 turns out of 40 to fill up, still room for error.

Inspect plane for damage, find none and tailwheel is in good shape, but YIKES, one engine mount screw is gone and engine mount is wobbly loose. [X(]ok, better fix that before trying verticals and judging if I need right thrust or not. Call it a day, sensing I am pushing my luck.

So, overall, I reach main goal 1) landing. The turns will take some getting used to, because I don't like them steep, but I also don't like them so huge. Next, more discplined trimming exercises, and learn to use more rudder more in the turns to kick that tail around and shrink their size. Sorry for the long post, but I am way excited about finally flying this thing, and especially building confidence in that landing. Thanks for all the posts about landing, and the rudder-while-turning-tips, which I forgot about until I wrote this post. The plane is awesome, but will take me a while to get really comfortable with because it needs lots of space. I guess moving up from 40 size plane to 90 size should not have surprised me.

Ed H. in Michigan, Vectorflight Edge 540, ST 0.90, 13x6

Awesome flight report!! I'm very happy you like your plane. These really are great flyers. I was scared if mine at first but after you get over the initial "new plane" anxiety, it really becomes a joy to fly.

I finally have some video of mine (granted, most of it is BORING except for a few consecutive rolls) but for anyone who might be interested....

[link=http://media.putfile.com/Jarod-Marshalls-Edge-540]Edge Video[/link]

Your day went much better with your plane than did mine, muffler came loose - both screws, luckily the cowl held the muffler in and I didn't lose it. Also, broke another aileron hinge - grrrr, but I can chalk that up to 3 consecutive blender >- inverted flat spin manuevers.

Great post maiden report Ed. She'll fool you on the way it slows down so well on landings but don't fall for it. Never tip stalled once on me, but would fall straight down like I dropped it outta my hands.
Flew a couple of flights yesterday on mine. Second landing got me puckered when I forgot to switch back to low or medium elev rates. Landing this plane with elev on high rates is not recommended. I came in too steep but it flattened out at the last second for a decent landing. I won't forget that little lesson again.

Good luck with your VF Edge and keep us posted Ed !!

'another flight report. Took her out again this past weekend, in breezy conditions. It obviously was not as fun as the maiden flight. But one thing, I did manage to fly it using much more rudder than the maiden flight, and I was able to shrink the pattern down a whole lot. I kept having to nearly cross the sticks(aileron and rudder) during the turns, but that's what it seemed to require to hold a constant bank angle and altitude. Do you guys have the same experience?

I also tried some easy aerobatics: stall turns(required high rates on rudder), immelman, split S, four point rolls(jeez, I need practice with that rudder), Cuban Eights and Reverse Cuban Eights(those were nice, especially the downlegs). I have a hard time entering the verticals with the wings absolutely level, and it shows. I don't have this hard of a time with my other planes, but then, those other planes are more self righting than this one. The pilot workload is definitely much higher, but the manuvers look better, especially rolls. Wing tip weight is right on, based on pull horizontal from vertical dive: no dipping. Landings were all worse than the maiden, as I kept letting it float, argh! I know better, but float she does. I'm going to pay more attention to throttle off pitching. It is probably my thumbs, but I could swear the nose rises when I throttle down to idle.

Another question: for the guys with 91 two strokes, do you guys fly at more than half throttle when performing knife edge or four point rolls? I keep having to use lots of rudder, and it really yanks for tail down rather ungracefully. Recoving from knife edge into inverted is therefore equally ungraceful. What is the proper technique? Do I release rudder and add aileron simultaneously, or release one before adding the other? I think if I fly faster, I won't need as much rudder, which should smooth the transition from knife to inverted. Do you guys also flick the nose up before rolling to minimize altitude loss? Or do you enter dead level?

Ed in MI, Vectorflight Edge 540 , ST 0.90, 13x6

Hi Ed,

I have a Evolution 1.00NX 2 stroke on mine. I had just sort of "putted" around, flying at half throttle or less and only really going to more power in uplines. The plane flew "ok" but honestly, one day I just started flying it with more power - a bit faster. It's handling improved dramatically. It really loves to fly with power. I fly between half-3/4 straight and level and then full on uplines.

Throttle off pitch up, mine does it too. Most Edge's I've seen fly do it. I have gotten used to holding a bit of down elevator when throttle is cut and then switch to pulling a little up just before it touches down.

New flight report: I tried a 14x6 prop on the plane, and the difference is dramatic. The plane flies slower for sure, and take offs were shorter. But the most important difference is that I can now fly a smaller pattern with this prop, even the turn arounds, so I am pretty much happier than I was with the 13x6. I am also using more throttle, like Shakes268, no less than 1/2, and using full on the uplines. Finally, I am using more, sometimes full, elevator on the loops, Cuban 8s, any time I pull vertical. This shrinks the size without ripping the wings off on low rates. The plane climbs differently, however. With the 13x6, it seemed like if I didn't throttle down, it would climb forever. With the 14x6, the plane seems to run out of steam. I think an intermediate prop would be perfect, but it is hard to find a 14x5. Overall, this prop suits my style of flying, so I'll stick with it for a while. Engine was turning 11,200rpm with 13x6, now it turns 9,900. I hope I'm not hurting the engine.

Also, thanks for confirming the pitch-up-at-throttle-down on your plane, Shakes268. I tried pushing down on the elevator when I throttled down for landings, and that does the trick perfectly. I wouldn't have tried it until I heard your plane did the same. This cured the floating landings. There is probably some mix in my radio I could use, but I just as soon using my thumbs for this until I get picky or get better on downlines.

I think it is time to play with CG now. I also suspect that I don't have enough right thrust on my plane, judging by the verticals, but I still need to be sure it isn't my thumbs. Dang plane goes where I point it...

Ed in MI, Vectorflight Edge 540 , ST 0.90, 14x6

Good to hear!

I have yet to check how the vertical downlines are. If the airframe itself has a tendency to pull to the canopy in that situation, a throttle - elevator mix would probably work very well in straightening it out. It wouldn't take much, about 3% down elevator max I'm thinking. Next time I have mine out at the field I'll take it up very high and just push the nose over and see what it wants to do.

I'm running a 14x6 on my Evolution 100 and it seems to run great. It doesn't slow down all that well in downlines and I had intended on trying a 15x4W to see if that would help but my spinner screw is too short when I go to a thinner hub prob like that. I'd still be interested to see but I have been too lazy to try and find another screw the right size. The plane just doesn't have a lot of drag (the thin wings mainly) so it flies fast and loves it.

With the 14x6 on my engine, it's spinning it around 11k RPMs and the vertical is great!

I wonder if I'm the only person who has been breaking hinges - I've lost 3 aileron hinges (not at the same time). I completely re-hinged one wing the other night and we'll see how that holds up.

Another flight, this time with the CG moved back to 4 1/8". It was 4". It makes a difference alright. Plane needed less up elevator trim to fly upright, and, as I was hoping, less down to fly inverted. Also, knife edge looks improved on low rate rudder which I wasn't expecting, but I suppose it makes sense. Landings, of course, wanted more down all the way to the flare, and less of a flare. This I was expecting. I would not call the plane pitch sensitive yet, so I still have some room to go if I want to later.

I tried my first spins(on this plane, anyway) tonight, and wow, they look good. Not flat, but much flatter than any plane in my hangar. Ok, that's not saying much, but it sure made me smile. I used to wonder what the big deal about spins was until tonight, now I think I understand what a spin is supposed to look like. It stopped nice and quickly, too, right where I wanted it. This was also on low rates.

Tried another avalanche on high rates, and the snap seemed better as well as the exit. I spent most of my time practicing upline entries, which ironically seemed better with the cross wind conditions. I think I was concentrating harder, and doing more correcting right after entry if needed, but it sure would be nice if I was good enough just to pull back on the stick and enjoy the ride. Verticals are definitely not unlimited, but will last much longer if I enter at a higher speed. I really want to try a 14x5; I think Zinger makes one.

Shakes, I was reading that a good test for throttle-elevator mixing is 45 degree downlines. I have not tried that; my only clue was landing approach, which is a shallower downline. Let me know what you find out and how much mix you need. I have not broken any hinges yet, but I've only flown 8 times. Does your plane also require aileron correction at higher speeds? I'm pretty sure mine does; it needs more left as the speed increases(like right before an upline, which might explain why I can't seem to enter wings level all the time).

Ed in MI, Vectorflight Edge 540 , ST 0.90, 14x6, CG @ 4 1/8"

If your plane pulls to the canopy in a power off dive, the wing incidence should be reduced. If it pulls to the wheels, the incidence should be increased. check out this trimming chart located at
http://www.nsrca.org/trimA.htm

Jon N,

Thanks for the tip, but I'd have to do some serious mods to the plane in order t make the wing incidence adjustable without twisting the joiners around(pretty snug fit to the slots in the fuselage). But I suppose if I have to resort to that, I will.

Ed in MI, Vectorflight Edge 540 , ST 0.90, 14x6, CG @ 4 1/8"

I haven't noticed any need for aileron correction but I really haven't been focusing on flying any kind of precision with it. It may, but its not noticeable. I require quite a bit of right rudder on uplines though which has to do with engine torque but thats about it. I'm also fairly nose heavy also. I should move the CG back, but I'm just too lazy - it flies ok for me

After all this time, I've decided to sell the VF Edge and replace it with a 25% edge from Goldberg. I have it listed here on RCU for $250 which includes the Dubro gear, 2 extra tail fairings, extra canopy, belly pan and cowl. It's brand new in the box.