Well, had a successfull maiden of my Seagull Edge 540 yesterday.. Great weather in MD for it..

Airplane balanced level at 95mm aft of leading edge...
Flew with Saito 125, Hitec HS625MG's all around, and had a zero fuel wt. of 8lbs 11oz.

Broke engine in prior to flying and had 9000RPM Peak with 16x6 prop.. richened it up to about 8800 prior to flying..

Airplane flew GREAT.. I was really nervous as it was the first plane that I have "maidened" (except for a foamy).. Required one "beep" of right aileron trim and 2 beeps of up elevator.. Stalls were straight ahead with no wing rock. Inverted flight was mostly hands off.. Pitched slightly to the canopy on right to left knife edge.. The only thing that really suprised me was how much the plane pulled left on vertical uplines.. It has no right thrust, so I guess this is how it will be. Definitley enough rudder to compensate, but I was suprised how much it took compared to my Ultra Stick 60.

Landings were a non event, very stable and seems to slow down nicley. I think I made a few guys in the club nervous because I was "working" it down and they were worried it would "tip stall"..

All in all it seems like a great plane~ Looking forward to getting to know it better~

John..

Sounds like a great first flight..... I have a seagull Edge 540 with the wing glued together, an older ARF - I believe, and am having problems with the balance... Was flown with a Saito 100 and flew great... but wanted more power... Now has a Magnum 120 and has not flow yet... can not get the airplane balanced as it is either tail heavy or nose heavy... I have added a lot of lead to the tail trying to balance... The airplane rocks either up or down when it is close to balance..

The engine is mounted about 3/4 of an inch forward to much for the cowl but the thick adjustable motor mount requires the position.. will soon change the motor mount... Any recomendations?
Trying to balance between 3 3/4 to 4 inches from leading edge with the airplane upside down on a balancer.... Thanks..

Richard,

I had the same problem balancing my edge.. It was VERY touchy on the balance stand. I was able to get it to balance by moving my rec. battery around, but I almost had to hold my breath while I stabilized it on the balancer, get it to level and then let go.. It was strange, and unlike all of my other planes.. I'm not sure why it was this way, but I figured if it would stay on the balancer i'd fly it.. I really think that if the heat had kicked on while it was on the stand, the airflow from the register would be enough to upset the balance.. I'd try the fingertip method. Mine was more forgiving that way.. Also when you think about it, your plane should balance at 3 3/4 inches and in a perfect world, will fly good with a full tank of fuel, as well as close to an empty tank of fuel.. So if the plane will still fly with this much of a drastic wt. shift it will probably be ok if you are reasonably certain that it is close? Make sense?

John..

Richard - For what its worth. Had the same problem with my edge. Balanced perfectly level. So said the heck with it and headed to the field. Fortunately, one of pilots there is outstanding as a pilot, helper and a wealth of knowledge with respect to aerodynamics. When I described the situation he said it was balanced perfectly and suggested (He has seen me fly.) that a little nose weight be added.
I then asked him if he would do the maiden. He was happy to oblige. Fired up, straight down the runway and very little trim and flying hands off. Inverted needed no down. He said the balance was exactly like he liked it and again remineded me I wouild probably appreciate some down.

Flew it a couple more times and found what he was talking about. A little to sensitive for me.

Have since added the weight (approx 2 oz) and flies beautifully for me. Now if can just get the snow to slow down and warm up, may get some more flying in.

Harc

Thanks to both replies.... I will do a finger balance before fueling and then go with it... I appreciate your replies and I too have experienced pilots that I fly with that would do a test flight for me... Sorry about the snow... we in Alabama are having a lot of storms and FOG... The fog is our real concern. Limits visability and sometimes we can not fly until after 10 a.m. (we arrive at 7 a.m., Monday to Friday... Richard

I am building one myself right now.

One thing I noticed different from my last Aeroworks 60/90 is the DISTRIBUTION of weight and complete lack of engine thrust in the firewall.

WEIGHT
The fuselage is extremely light.
The elevator and rudder are pretty heavy.
Fuel tank is mounted up tight to the engine.
The battery is mounted up close to the engine.
If you mount three servos in the tail as instructed, you will likely be putting all gear and weight toward the nose to compensate.

All this adds up to a pitch sensitive plane, because the moments of inertia are so far from the center of gravity (fulcrum) of the plane. Its easier to control a teeter-toter with 600 lbs in the middle, than with 300lbs on each end. The correct distribution of weight is important as well as how much, and balance point.

THRUST
No thrust angles are built into the firewall. YOU MUST ADD THEM or suffer an un-trim-able plane that reacts to inputs differently at all vectors and throttle settings.

Personally, I will attempt to keep light servos on the elevator, but mounted as far forward as possible. Rudder will be pull-pull from the center of the fuselage. Fuel tank will be mounted as far rearward as possible allowing for stable idle and operation.

I remember the Aeroworks was pitch sensitive too, just go VERY easy on the throw rates. A little dab-l-do ya.

Oh and by the way, are you balancing the plane UPSIDE DOWN or right side up? Wichever way lets the plane sit tilted, but not tipped over when its out of balance is the one to use. Low wing planes balance upside down, top wing balance right side up. Mid wing (edge 540) will tend to be one or the other.

See ya !

I have the 120 version. the instructions dont mention anything about thrust angles so are they now built in.

I know my "60-90" Seagull Edge does not have any right thrust.. I'm not chuck yeager, but the only thing I really notice is how much it pulls to the left on vertical uplines.. It's not a big deal because there is more than enough rudder to take care of it.. I thought about adding some right thrust, but really I don't know if it's worth having the cowl not match up..

No idea about the 120 version.. Are they still selling that model? Couldn't find it on the Horizon Hobby website?

GD

Marvintm, that makes perfect sense about the balance now that I think about it.. never considered all the wt. on the nose, and the tail with very little in the center of the fuse.. That does explain why, in the words of Randy Jackson on American Idol, its pitchy dog... On the balance stand anyway...

Mine did balance at 95 mm. and flies nice there thought..

Hi folks!
 I'm going to be putting together a Seagull  Edge 540 1.20 over the winter and plan on using a YS 1.20NC 4-Stroke for the power plant. I know about the pressurizing of the fuel tank and plan on redoing all the plumbing but I was looking for some input on if the YS will give it enough power. Any sugestions?

If you are experienced with the YS... then it should be fine.

I bought a NIB YS 1.20 NC a few years ago to go in a plane I was building which had hardwood rail mounts. The mounts were spaced to fit the engine and the the cowl and spinner all setup for that engine. However, I could never get the engine to run reliably so never flew it with the YS.

I'm not suggesting the YS isn't a good engine... I guess I was too stupid to know what to do to get it running well. I finally gave up on it and set it aside and bought another brand engine more suited to a sport flier. It took a fair amount of effort to rework for the different engine.

What I'm saying is... be sure that your happy with the engine before committing to it with the build.

I ran it (the YS) on a test stand following the plumbing instuctions with check valves and fuel filters in place and it was amazing so I think the engine is stable. I was more concerned that the size may be small (the Seagull manual is really unclear as to weather this a 1.20 2 or 4 stroke plane.) If it's a 1.20 2-stroke plane then even a supercharged 1.20 4-stroke might be lacking in power.
 I have the Seagull Cap 232 .71-.91 that I put an ASP 1.20 4-stroke in and it seems to pull it around ok (the engine isn't completely broken in yet and it should produce more power once it is.) and the weight is only 1 pound diffrence between the two. I guess I'm just wondering if anyone has used a 1.20 4-stroke in this plane and how it worked out for them. 

Perhaps you will get a direct answer. I own a Saito 1.25 and it is slightly stronger than a Zenoah G-20 and I'm thinking the YS-120 is likely as strong as the Saito or more so... so I'd think your YS-120 should do the job well.

THe Seagull Edge 540 1.20 is a 4.8Kg plane so the 1.20 size is rated according to a minimum 1.20 2 stroke glow.
Seagull, Black horse and Phoenix models all rate their ARF's accoridng to minimum size 2stroke to power the plane.

A 1.20 4 stroke is going to be asthmatic

My bad on suggesting the YS would be adequate... I was thinking the Seagull AT-6 thread.