The air leaving the cowl need to be 4 times the air entering the cowl this means a large hole in the bottom and in some cases a baffle needs to be built to direct the air.The bottom of the engine does not need to be cooled as much as the top and if a O.S. 91 is being used this is very important.I just went through it with mine.The engine flew great for several flights then suddenly became touchy.Most of it was due to heat,but there is a issue with the gaskets on the needle valve.If you have problems with the 91fx call hobby services and they will send out black gaskets to replace the white ones.

The wing is very sturdy. The building techique allows VF to produce a strong wing with a thin profile. Smaldents and dings can be repaired by removing the covering, filling the dent with lightweight filler, then sanding and covering with normal covering film.

Replacement wings and fuselages are available from VF, but at the current price, by a spare plane!

I'm fairly impressed with the covering that VF uses. It is a peel and stick vinyl that is tacky untill heated with a heat gun, then the adhesive becomes quite agressive and the material forms well around curves. I was very sceptical about it unitl I did my cowling, but am very pleased with the results.

David, thanks for the response to the covering material question. Is this stuff available from VF or someone? Still trying to determine if a 2-stroke will fit under the cowl. Anyone?

My ASP 91 is a clone of the OS 91 2 stroke, it will not fit, fully enclosed in the cowl.

The material (I beleive) is actually the same as used to do vinyl graphics on vehicles. I took a piece to a local sign shop and they matched it up very well with some of thier stock.

David, thanks again for the info on the covering material. Am still trying to determine if anyone out there has mounted either a Tower or Supertigre 2-stroke .75 horizontally or inverted in the 66" Extra 300 without having to cut the cowl. Thanks, Joe

Hey David,

Just a quick question about your post on the covering. You said until I did my cowl... Are you talking about the application of the stripes or did you do something else on a larger scale with your covering? Also, how careful do you need to be when getting heat around the polycarbonate pieces like the cowl and the tail fairing ( though I think you threw your fairing in the "circular file".

My Edge is almost complete. Waiting on new JR 8103. David Cutler is going to have to claim me as a dependent on his taxes, I've asked him so many questions.

Garch22: I didnt want to mess up the cowl on mine either. I will be running a 120 four stroke. Went in and added new blind nuts to the firewall in the correct configuration for an inverted mounting scheme. The hole in the bottom of the cowl is not very noticable at all. This could be an option for you as well, although you would need to check the reliability of running your 91 inverted. Don't forget, even the big scale guys cut holes in their cowls (many times it is a necessity, in order to get the proper set-up and cooling for the engine) don't fret too much about it.

Regards,
John

The entire top/front of thecowl has to be covered. I was very pleased with how the material formed to the contours of the cowl. With a little bit of heat around the front curves, it lays down very nicley. I also used scrap bits to cover the balsa tail fairing I built ager it was glued into place. This worked out very well also.

Here's some low quality images of my cowl...

Sorry I took them with my web cam..but at least you get the idea...

Sam

Perfect, thanks alot. It really looks good. When I go ahead and get the Extra, I think I'll do the balsa block method for the tail fairing. Mine looks pretty good with the mods I made, but the flow of the turtledeck is interrupted and when it gets back to the stab, there isn't much that can be done to blend it in.

Sam at VF said they were looking at alternative methods for this area. I hope they are able to do something.

Regards,
John

Carving/sanding a balsa fairing takes about 10 minutes....what's building a plane without making a little dust?

David,

Ha! I wish it would only take me 10 minutes. Tell you what, when I get the 58" Extra, I'll send you a block of balsa and you can send me back a tail fairing. <hehehe>. I gave it serious consideration, but alas in the end chickened out. I did however, put in a bulkhead at the end of the turtledeck so the plastic fairing would fit flush rather than sit up on the TD and make a hump. Looks O.K.

John

Hay David I have the 66 extra on order and have not seen one yet up close and personal so I do not know what you guys are talking about with reguards to the tail faring. Can you post a pict of what you did here?


Miloh.

Here's a photo of mine while I was glueing it up. The turtle-deck ends at the front edge of the horizontal stab. so when everything is assembled you need to fill the area in top of the horiz. stab to carry the line of the turtle-deck to the aft end of the fuse. VF supplies a little plastic cover that you are supposed to glue in here. I just couldn't see a way to make this look nice, and last. Given that additional support for the rudder and horiz. stab is advised, I thought I'd just build my "fairing" with blocks of balsa and carve/sand them to shape.

The second picture shows what it looks like done.

Red tail - Edge 540 White tail 58" Extra

Hay Cooter is the Edge done with the supplied plastic parts? and is that glue showing on the Extra and is this how the finished product will look?
I'm also wondering what kind of hardware you used on these birds, did you upgrade or use the supplied parts and what is the impression of the parts used?
I will be house bound when mine shows up and want the right stuff here to complete it, if I had the benifit of your hind site I could go shopping before I become imobile.

Hay David Moen you could chime in here too.

Thanks, Miloh.

Well, I got to fly my edge today ! It really flys great compared to my trainer. The controls are definitely more touchy though. I think it will be a great 2nd plane. I put a supertigre .75 on it, I might need a little more power one of these days but it pulls the plane very good. Sure would to try hovering, but I don't think this engine will do the trick.
Jim

The stock hardware is OK. I used a set of aluminun tower horns though...looks a little nicer....

Supplied hardware on all my VF airplanes was excellent, all US made brands, cheers! The type I would buy to install in my scaratch builts. Sullivan 14 oz tank and metallic golden clevises, Dubro wheels (not the foam type) and Dave Brown glass filled engine mount. Only thing I changed on one airplane were the control horns, didnt seem to have a large enough footprint.

Its probably my prospective... either thass a small freezer or the extra looks like a 1/4 scale plane.
I just ordered one friday, how wide is the stab? the plane looks large, or larger than i would have expected.

I did the same with my Edge. The single shaft in the pre-cut hole struck me as being a little prone to movement after a while.

I also ended up changing the wheel pants, but I did fit the supplied plastic tail fairing, which ended up looking OK.

-David C.

It's not a big freezer...All the measurements are on the VF web site aren't they? The big stab/elevator is probably why these planes are very sensitive on the elevator. Scroll up a page or two in theis thread. I posted a picture of me and my Extra at the field, that will give you a better idea of the size.

Uh, yes, that's the plastic that was supplied with the kits. And yes, that's a sloppy glue job. I should have wiped the excess off with some alcohol, but was in a hurry, as usual. I could touch it up with some white paint, someday...........

Oh, and yes, I used all the supplied hardware. I found no need to change anything, except for the tail gear, I used a Sullivan type, with the spring that connects to the rudder. It absorbs some shock and saves the servo gears.

Hey guys, I put my second flight on my 300s today !!!

I went down to the logging dry land again today for my second flight, I had a few problems to start, my adjustment extension for my mixture backed off and came out...lucky I had already adjusted my mixture.

After warming the engine up for a 1/4 of a tank and taxiing around, I toped up the fuel and fired her back up.

I went back down to the top end of the dry land...knelt down, put my hand flat on the starboard wing and said " Ok lady, don't deal me anything I can't handle..." then held the tail ran up the throttle to clear the carb and throttled back...

I then tested all my control surfaces and powered up for takeoff, I had reduced the elevator throw since my last flight and didn't really know how much I was going to need for take off....so as she screamed down the runway I banged the stick back and she jumped off the ground pretty much vertical !!! I leveled her out and did a few circuits everything ran great...only running her at half throttle I'm still trying to get used to her compared to my Kadet LT 40...she's a lot more of a handful !!!.

I did some low passes for my friends...the one young guy I fly with, he's waiting for his Sukhoi said "Wow Dude....scary fast !!!"...

I felt ready to try a loop...I know loops are no big deal but not knowing how the mixture and bubbles in the fuel line were, I tried a nice slow loop....as soon as she got upside down the engine started to spudder so I turned her back over...
I throttled up and cleared the lines...everything was back to normal...

I then flew some nice tight turns within the 100 yards of the dry land to see if I could slow her down without tip stalling, everything went fine...

I then did a few line ups for landing and on the third pass slowed her right down and set her down ever so gently to a perfect stop....(Hands still shaking)

I was going to put on another flight but without being able to adjust the mixture without taking the cowl off I decided not to and call it a day....I was happy with the flight !!!

Good Flights to all...

Sam

Congrats! The airplane is very aerodynamically clean. Use power gently and Rock and Roll!