Lanier Edge 540 Quality??
04-20-2003 | 12:51 PM
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From: Hays, KS
Lanier Edge 540 Quality??
Hi all. How good is the Lanier Edge 540? It's the red and white one. Does it fly well? and what are the cowl and wheelpants made of? Are they high quality? Any comments would be appreciated greatly. Thanks.
Clint
Clint
04-20-2003 | 03:02 PM
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From: Lake In The Hills ,
IL
Lanier Edge 540 Quality??
Well, I can tell you what I know, you ready? It sounds bad, but has a good ending.
There are lots of posts about these problems: #1- thin, weak aluminum landing gear, #2-the landing gear rips out of the fuse, #3-The former near the tail has no cutouts for the rudder pull-pull wires,#4- The model builds quite tailheavy,#5- the springsteel tailwheel impales the rudder on hard landings. #6- The ARF comes with wimpy little 2-56 hardware. #7- The fuse cracks right behind the Canopy/hatch assembly.
There have been many manufacturing revisions since these problems were discovered.
My findings were as follows (My ARF bought from Tower last summer) #1 -Revised landing gear is much thicker / stronger, many have thought I used the TNT gear. #2- The revised landing gear mount in the fuse is heavier ply reinforced with aluminum brackets (you can spot this revision by the gear being recessed into the fuse with a fiberglass cover. #3- Mine had perfectly placed pull-pull cutouts in this former. #4-I put 2 Hitec 605s in the tail and it DID come out QUITE TAILHEAVY even with a 2.4 gasser. Had to put almost a pound of lead in the nose. #5- The tailwheel smacked into the rudder on the very first landing, (CBA Tatone tailwheel Tower Hobbies cat no. LXA391 mounts the same way in the same holes and solves this problem). #6- The hardware sucks (except for the Robart hinges) and went straight into my junk box unopened. I bought a 4-40 rod variety pack and steel clevises, bought stainless steel 6-32 screws for elevator and ailerons, 6-32 threaded rod for rudder, dubro 6-32 nylon clevis connectors, and a Sullivan 4-40 pull-pull kit for rudder. Had to use a 9/16 offset servo arm for pull-pull to eliminate the slack at full deflection with my setup. Many guys don't worry about this problem. #7- My ARF had the revised fuse with a new former where the cracking used to occur. You can spot this revision as the rear of the canopy/hatch assembly to fuse fit is perfectly vertical and the fuse is open there on the old, while it's sloped back and sheeted on the revised ARF.
Mine weighs in at 13.5 pounds with the FPE 2.4, flies like it weighs about 12 (say others who've seen it fly). I could remove some lead from the nose because the CG spec the manual gives you is very conservative.I put the tank against the wing tube,(the supplied tank goes near the firewall). I had to re-glue the dowels in the wings, stabs, and canopy/hatch assembly, the stab has an aluminum tube and is designed to be removable,(you'll want to glue it all in place, probably). As with every ARF I've ever bought (with the exception Of my Ultrastick) I had to put 2 CD's in my stereo, grab my heat gun and iron, and go to work on the covering job (only had to fix wrinkles / loose areas). Cowl and wheelpants are painted fiberglass.
Overall, I'm quite satisfied with mine, and I expected to do some work to build-up for a gasser anyway. Flies like a kitten (low rates), or a tasmanian devil (high rates). It's not at all snappy like the H9 model.
My opinion,
JJ
There are lots of posts about these problems: #1- thin, weak aluminum landing gear, #2-the landing gear rips out of the fuse, #3-The former near the tail has no cutouts for the rudder pull-pull wires,#4- The model builds quite tailheavy,#5- the springsteel tailwheel impales the rudder on hard landings. #6- The ARF comes with wimpy little 2-56 hardware. #7- The fuse cracks right behind the Canopy/hatch assembly.
There have been many manufacturing revisions since these problems were discovered.
My findings were as follows (My ARF bought from Tower last summer) #1 -Revised landing gear is much thicker / stronger, many have thought I used the TNT gear. #2- The revised landing gear mount in the fuse is heavier ply reinforced with aluminum brackets (you can spot this revision by the gear being recessed into the fuse with a fiberglass cover. #3- Mine had perfectly placed pull-pull cutouts in this former. #4-I put 2 Hitec 605s in the tail and it DID come out QUITE TAILHEAVY even with a 2.4 gasser. Had to put almost a pound of lead in the nose. #5- The tailwheel smacked into the rudder on the very first landing, (CBA Tatone tailwheel Tower Hobbies cat no. LXA391 mounts the same way in the same holes and solves this problem). #6- The hardware sucks (except for the Robart hinges) and went straight into my junk box unopened. I bought a 4-40 rod variety pack and steel clevises, bought stainless steel 6-32 screws for elevator and ailerons, 6-32 threaded rod for rudder, dubro 6-32 nylon clevis connectors, and a Sullivan 4-40 pull-pull kit for rudder. Had to use a 9/16 offset servo arm for pull-pull to eliminate the slack at full deflection with my setup. Many guys don't worry about this problem. #7- My ARF had the revised fuse with a new former where the cracking used to occur. You can spot this revision as the rear of the canopy/hatch assembly to fuse fit is perfectly vertical and the fuse is open there on the old, while it's sloped back and sheeted on the revised ARF.
Mine weighs in at 13.5 pounds with the FPE 2.4, flies like it weighs about 12 (say others who've seen it fly). I could remove some lead from the nose because the CG spec the manual gives you is very conservative.I put the tank against the wing tube,(the supplied tank goes near the firewall). I had to re-glue the dowels in the wings, stabs, and canopy/hatch assembly, the stab has an aluminum tube and is designed to be removable,(you'll want to glue it all in place, probably). As with every ARF I've ever bought (with the exception Of my Ultrastick) I had to put 2 CD's in my stereo, grab my heat gun and iron, and go to work on the covering job (only had to fix wrinkles / loose areas). Cowl and wheelpants are painted fiberglass.
Overall, I'm quite satisfied with mine, and I expected to do some work to build-up for a gasser anyway. Flies like a kitten (low rates), or a tasmanian devil (high rates). It's not at all snappy like the H9 model.
My opinion,
JJ
