Mine is scheduled to go with me to the field today. Having some engine problems with my gassers and the VF Edge is always a fun alternative. A little more time consuming to assemble at the field than most two-piece winged planes. It's still fun to fly. And will do great flatspins.

I must admit I had not heard of them until i saw a for sale ad on rccanada i even scrolled right by it for about a week. Then i messaged just asking for some info or a pic even and he sent me the link to this thread. After reading through these posts I was astonished that the plane wasnt sold. Almost any plane i become interested in I research and can pretty safely say you will find a good amount of both positive and negative feedback. Though Im sure the quantity of vector flight planes out there is lower, than some big name companies. You can only find positive info on this plane and company, even the instructions arent near as bad as i was expecting. Looking at the kit any individual with an ounce of common sense would say yeah that does look well built, wow. My girlfriend was looking over an aileron last night and even commented on the crisp clean covering job and that there is a very noticable difference in thie quality of this kit in comparison to some of my other planes. My father inlaw flies a 33% H9 edge and a 40% Chapman edge and this vector kit looks as nice. The solid wing looks so real im blown away. I may alter the graphics in some fashion although the scheme is pretty cool just want a bit more pizzaz. Definetely going with a bigger set of mains and I love the look of pants so ill be on the lookout for a more durable set-up there. Other than that Ill go through the strengthening tips you have all posted like the nylon nut and bolt set up on the wings is nice, the father inlaw hasnt seen it yet, but he may have some ideas, 30 some odd yrs he's been modeling rc planes. So i have adequate support, should go smooth. Funny when i picked up the plane the guys says holy since ive posted the link to this thread my pm box is full now and prior no one responded.. Must have just been meant to be mine...

When you pizaaz it up be sure NOT to use heat! The covering is not a heat applied material and heat will screw it up. Adhesive trim or monocote applied with the windex method and sealed down with monocote solvent along the edges will work. I have never tested the covering with monocote solvent so test that in an unseen place ... the underside leading edge of an aileron is a good spot. Just don't let it flow over to the top. Also you may want to put the gear on with 1/4 inch nylon wing bolts. I use 3. This is a plane you will cherrish for a long time, don't put the belly at risk.

Also, since replacement parts are no longer available you may want to make a mold for the cowling. Be sure to temper it with hot water... you'll find it in the thread and I think in the instructions. Its really important to get the max strength from it but it still is brittle and prone to damage on impacts.

Bob

I did read about the covering thanx for the tip though. Was thinking to just use stick on vinyl graphics, was also thinkng perhaps the wing would be nice with a hook and elastic type set up to keep the rear of the wings pulled to the fuse. Im also thinking the saito 100.

If you have the last model of the plane with the recess in the fuse for the wing to sit into its no issue. Don't think it was a real issue anyway before. The 100 should be fine, just don't use a 3D prop.

Bob

Are you planning to do a vacuum form or a cold mold ? I have two extra cowls. One has been cut for a YS-110 but never used and the other is brand new. Would hate to lose a hard to find cowl to a bad mold . "Not that you would let that happen." But with certain mold jobs the originals are toast afterward.[]

Kurt

I would not want to vouch for the status of the cowl after the mold is made ahead of time. If I can find one someone wants to part with then fine. If not, I'll work from what I have and create a mold for myself from it. I'm not looking to making them commercially, just for myself. Would be nice if one of the commercial companies would do one, but my guess is for a plane that will never be made again they will not. Just not enough market there. I haven't decided if I'm going to male or female mold at this point. I would not be doing a vacuum form cowl, but laid up fiberglass.

bob branch

Another thing i forgot and meant to ask this kit has a canada flag on the side and says canada eh! and most of the pics ive seen they have an american flag and USA was that when the company moved to windsor i guess.

Yes, they moved from the US to Windsor because they felt the exchange rate would help them compete. Unfortunately, the Chinese did not revalue their currency as they had announced they would and that was what drove them out of business. To give you an idea of their dedication to customer service, they ran into a problem post 9/11 with the boxes getting tied up in customs to the US. So each one was driven by one of the Vector Flight guys across the border from Windsor to Detroit where they were shipped to US customers so they got them as quickly as possible. Delays back then could run to several weeks and were very unpredictable. Could have just shipped em an no one would have known the difference. But that is the way they were. I lost one of their planes to a transmitter failure. A new one was on my porch about 2 days later. REAL CUSTOMER SERVICE!

bob branch

Now...Sturtz......

You could not be talking about the Cowl that I cut for a YS 110...now would you????



I hope you are still flying....I have only one plane left....and it's ELECTRIC!

I'm flying a GP Siren..and have completely fallen in love with Electric sailplanes!


I have a YS110 that will perfectly fill that cowling ....fresh back from YS for a full checkout.....no BS!!!!

Keep 'em flying!!!!

LarryQ

Yes Larry,,, it's your YS110 cowl. And Bob,,, maybe it would be a better idea to have one of your cowls than to hang on to the brittle plastic original. Let's talk.

Larry,, still flying here,,,sounds like your having fun with the elec gliders. Where are you flying them ?

I usually take it with me when we go away..
I have a HUGE area where I can fly without being bothered (and No radio Hits!!)

Other than that I fly at TORKS, tho I don't go there much anymore...

I'm really almost OUT of the hobby now...

But like most of my interests, I do them in cycles.....and right now RC is waining for me...

Larry

You aint a kidding! I came home one day to a box full of goodies from Vectorflight that had a note of appreciation inside. I never ordered it, they just sent it because they thought I might enjoy it. They were some of the best folks I ever dealt with! When they were in business you could send them an email any day of the week including Sunday, and they would always reply back even if it was a stupid question.

Amen !! They also truly listened to their customers and made structural changes and added filler notes to manuals (or posted them on the website) when a builder came up with a solution or had a better idea.
Several of us throughout this thread shared our ideas and many of the better ideas were used by VF. "You know who you are."
On the other hand I made some fabrication changes to a weak area on my Seagull Superstar 120 and sent these to Horizon along with photos and specs. Not only didn't they shoot me a thank you note after making the changes but wouldn't throw me a bone when I needed replacement parts.

Sure miss Vector Flight !

Sturtz

The way I would make a mold is as follows: First I would make a frame around the outside contour of the fuse end of the cowl in probably half inch ply or particle board. The only holes I think that would be needed would be to attach the cowl to that. Since that is way longer than the cowl needs to be for anything you would put in the plane that should not put the cowl at risk. What it would do is lock the accurate shape of the cowl from the weight of the mold inside. I'd then mount the cowl to a board with a plug in the nose ring opening to fix the cowl cented on this base board and then make a set of uprights to the frame at the open end of the cowl. That fixes the original cowl without any flex or twist and will prevent the weight of the mold from distorting the cowl during the mold making process. I am going to make a male mold since that is easier with the techniques I normally work with. I would then paint a commercial seperating media on the inside of the cowl. I would make the mold in two layers. The first would be a mixture of fast setting impression plaster and flox and would be about 1/2 inch thick. This would wind up with a surface that matches the inside of the existing cowl. The flox would decrease the mold's weight and give some tooth for the outer layer of the mold to bind to the inner layer. Once the outer layer is set I would seperate the cowl from it, probably with air pressure thru the prop ring area. Because the cowl was originally made on a male mold it has draw and will pop off. That would be the end of exposure to the original cowl. I use plaster against wax all the time and only get slight softening of the wax from the temp of the plaster setting. It does not generate enough heat to melt the wax. So I don't think there will be enough heat to hurt the cowl, but that is a point of risk. It certainly does not generate anything like 140 degrees and that is what we heat soaked the cowls in from VectorFlight. Once the cowl is popped off I would fill the mold shell with a slower setting harder plaster. When it set I would go about filling any voids in the mold and any fairing that looks like it needed.

That mold could then be used to make fiberglass cowls. I think a layer of 4 oz cloth over the mold and a layer of 2 oz on the surface would give a decent surface that could be fairly easily surface faired and painted with whatever paint you choose to use. Careful if you are using 4 cycle 20% nitro or higher since many fuel proof paints only can handle about 15% nitro. There are alot of posts on RCU about various fuel proof paints and systems.

Anyway, that is how I would do it. If you want to contribute the cowl, and I'll send it back as original as possible, I certainly don't want to cut it in any way since that would just make the process more difficult, I'll make the mold and make you a cowl from it at no cost to you. I will not have a gel coated surface and it will require filling and painting but it should at least give a way to provide a longer lasting cowl. If anyone needed one after that I could figure out a cost for them and make them for as long as I have the mold. If I decide to disgard the mold in the future I can always come to this thread and offer to give it to anyone who wants it. I don't know what a glass cowl costs as I have never bought one from the custom cowl makers out there, but I know this system will work. Making a female mold would allow of course a perfect surface but it puts the original at much higher risk and would be a more expensive thing to make. On the other hand, once the plaster mold is made it might not be a big deal to make one off the original cowl since the cowl could be stabilized on the plaster mold. I'm just not sure the result would merit the effort. I'm not into sanding inside a female mold to get it perfect. Probably the actual cowl surface is as good as could be expected.

Anyway, let me know what you think.

Bob Branch

Sounds like you know what your doing and have the experience to make a good form. I've played around with mold forming with so-so results. But have a friend or two that did it for a living at one time. Doesn't make me better at it or the job easier.
Shoot me a PM so we can make this happen Bob. There are probably several folks in here that will be very happy to have a custom formed VF Edge 540 cowl as well.

Just took it out of the box (photo below) for the first time since John from VF sent it to me the week before they closed down.

All you vector guys, do you think a 20cc gas engine would be too much for the edge.

I think all will agree....... lighter is your best bet with this plane. A 20cc would probably be like having a Saito 100 or 125 in there power wise. Keep it light and move the weight back enough that it will fly at slower speeds and do some acro. Not much for 3/D with this bird.[&o]

Sent Bob Branch an email this morning on the cowl forming question. Have had some emails about cowl replacements.
Time sure passes quickly when your busy don't it ?

P.S. Hope you see this Bob. Your email was returned as suspended for some reason.

" Recipient: <[email protected]>
Reason: [SUSPEND] Mailbox currently suspended - Please contact correspondent directly"

Kurt

Sent you a private email.

bob

Thanks again Bob. And sorry the molding process didn't work out.[]

I know I am going to open up a can of worms when I do this. But I got a suprise today that may help someone. When Vectorflight closed down I managed to get one of the very last 58 inch extras. It was actually my favorite VF plane, even though alot has been written about the others. Powered with a ST .90 it was so wonderfully overpowered it just kept accelerating in verticle flight like it was in level flight. So when I hear VF was going to go away I managed to get one and have kept it since for a time when I just needed something really special to fly again and a .90 to go in it. Mine was the one VF posted on their web page for the plane. It was my 3rd rc plane and I lost it learning the lumechevak during my first year of flying rc. After killing one more plane, a highly modified Fourstar 60 also with ST .90 power I finally learned you have to break the stall before you try to fly out. Most of my flying is in 3D stuff now but its still something I have to remind myself of every now and again as I get too low in a flat spin or some such thing.

So I needed a break from the scratch build plane I am working on and cleared the bench and opened the box. And I just had to smile. Vectorflight even at the end kept up the incredible service. In the box were 3 extra sets of landing gear, including composite ones (I had suggested that to them for the edge and retrofitted mine), 3 extra canopies and 2 extra cowls for the small extra, .... and lo and behold an edge 540 cowl! They knew I had one and had already reordered one after an engine failure into the weeds. This one is definately a second and probably was not ever going into a kit but they sent it just the same. Unfortunately I had not opened the box til after I decommissioned my edge this fall.

As I said, it is a second. It has two blems, creases actually, one on each side of the cowl running along the top corner. But if you do not have a cowl for the bird and need one desperately, it will probably suffice. I am sure anyone can fill in behind with body filler and sand thru the creases and create a surface they can paint of the proper contour. Or it can be used for a mold, which might be the best call. It is totally uncut and virgin so it could be opened up at the tape line along the bottom so a mold could be made with the wedge out so it could be pulled together to duplicate the original.

So I guess the question is who needs it? Do I give it to the first person to contact me or to someone who will make a mold from it. I'd kind of prefer to do the later so the cowl can be made but I fully appreciate there are probably not many of these still flying. So let me know. I'll wait til say Christmas day. If no one has offered to make a mold by then it will go to the first one who asks for it. Lets just do the notifications thru this thread. I think anyone with interest in the plane is still subscribed to this thread.

Hope I have made somebody's day.

bob branch

Guys I know that this is a very old thread but if anyone can assist I would like to get the specs on the Vector Flight 66" Edge 540. Thanks.

Do you still have that Vectorflight Edge 540? I bought one@ a swap meet and am looking for proper CG for sport flying. Any Clue as to how many inches from LE inverted?