Hi everyone, I'm new to this website. I am really keen to get the AW Edge but am worried about the weight. At 8 lbs its over 25oz per sq ft surely thats heavy for a 3D plane. My Extreme Lite is around 15oz/sq ft weighing 4.5 lbs with an Irvine 53 2C motor.

Rodb, not to worry, 25 oz is not too high, in fact for that size plane it's very good. If the wing load gets too low the plane will not tumble well, and will react too strongly to wind gusts. Contrary to popular opinion there is such a thing as too low a load, or we would all be flying powered gliders. Also the wing load gets higher as the plane gets larger, 28 - 32 are good numbers in the 90-inch range where as 18 -22 are good in the 45-inch range. Thrust to weight ratio, control surface size and deflection as well as CG location are far more important to high-alfa manuvers.

The traditional wing loading based on weight/wing area is good when comparing models of roughly the same size. The oz/sq.in. numbers we are used to see is mostly good for planes in the .40-.60 size. When you get into 1/4 scale and up, higher oz/sq.in. will actually fly similarly to lower numbers for smaller planes. I've seen suggestion of "cubic loading" to be used instead of the conventional "square loading" when comparing models of varying sizes. Seems to work fairly well.

http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaver...bic/cubic.html

This article addresses the issue of Cubic Loading_Bob

this is the problem the 60-90 AW Edge has a cubic wing loading of 11 which is heavy. Its only a 64inch wingspan at 25 plus oz/sq ft. I fly a Majestic wingspan 53inch at 23oz/sq ft that lands very fast, is the Edge going to do the same, guess I would have to ask the guys that are already flying them?

Cubic loading is becomming a popular BUZZ word, however dont place too much faith in it. It's good for rough comparison but buy no means does it mean that two planes with the same load will fly the same. For instance you could have two identical ex300's with the only difference being the shape and thickness of the airfoil, they will both have the same cubic load but fly very different. If the wing on your plane has a relitivly sharp leading edge it will stall more aggressivly, at a lower angle of attack and at a higher speed then a round leading edge, this will result in higher landing speeds. I have flown an AW Edge equiped with a 4-stroke and smoke at an all up weight over 9 lbs with no problems. The plane handled well with no noticable bad habbits. Sealing the hinge lines made a considerable improvement in control responce.

Thanks for that Outcast, I guess I just needed a little reassurance, I am not looking for a high speed aircraft and was hoping that by going a little bigger (I normally fly 40 size planes) I could get something that could do it all at a more scale speed. So as soon as I get a reply about international shipping from AW I will be placing my order!