RE: Vectorflight Edge 540 build
 

OK Larry, here goes! You already got everthing covered!

I second the Klett tail wheel, the one with a long trailing arm with the wheel far back. Looks like the real thing, I think someone had a picture here a while back, very sweet!

One set of sullivan tail wires goes all around!

A 1000-1200maH NiMH rx pack is better for weight, unless your 2000 mah is a Lithium lightweight. Keep weight to a bare minimum! This is the most important thing, to keep it light!

Tri stock is balsa triangular sticks to reinforce the stab installation around the base, like fillets. This is good for violent snaps!!

one 9202 coreless on the elevator is quite enough! the plane has no slop. Solder the twin pushrods together and use the extra servo bay for the throttle servo.

Some small machine screws and matching blind nuts on ply hard points to install the cowl. Toss the sheet metal screws for the cowl, they work loose quickly.

A 16 oz. tank maybe, if the YS is a guzzler! I am easily getting 10 minutes or more with the stock 14 oz and FX91.

Cant think of anything else! But im sure there will be!:D[8D]

RE: Vectorflight Edge 540 build
 

Behind the wooden dowel.

RE: Vectorflight Edge 540 build
 

Hey Sturtz, how did you get your battery that far back in the fuse? How is it held in place?

RE: Vectorflight Edge 540 build
 

I didn't have to go that far back to get my CG. Those are pics from some other EdgeHeads here on the thread. I'm sure they will see their build and report back.
Mine is held in place by three zip ties. I glued and screwed a small hardwood stick across the rear fuse inlet to use as a secure hold.
The pic is before I did the maiden flight and made the changes like the nylon LG, etc. But the battery remains the same today.

RE: Vectorflight Edge 540 build
 

P.S.

HE WHO HATH THE MOST WOOD CHIPS STUCK TO HIS VINYL ROUND HOLE PATCH WINS THE VECTORFLIGHT AWARD FOR AERO MODELING.

RE: Vectorflight Edge 540 build
 

Kurt: I think i have you beat on that one. Ill have to post a pic of mine. Will do it tonight.

RE: Vectorflight Edge 540 build
 

That wasn't mine. I got so many pics of this build by myself and all you guys I hardly know which one to post sometimes. lol
Here's a brand new pic of mine. hehe ,, Wood chips help it knife-edge better.[&:]

While I was out in the hanger I took a pic of my new wing and that nylon bolt I mentioned earlier.

Oh,, and how is that for a messy hanger ?
Show me where all of you hanger your VectorFlight. [:-]

RE: Vectorflight Edge 540 build
 

BAH! Yours still looks like it is new out of the box!

RE: Vectorflight Edge 540 build
 

Yikes Sturtz....
I hope you've got air conditioning in there!!!

Your going to melt a plane or two if that's a shed!

I can't even go into the garage in the summer without coming back in SOaking wet!!

Anyway..I got a reply from Klett plastics...

They weren't aware of the vectorflight edge and asked if I was interested in the TA-2 (.40-.60 Size planes)

Or the TA-3 for up to 1/4 scale.

Your has the Klett tailwheel corect???

Which was the one you used?

Larry

RE: Vectorflight Edge 540 build
 

I used a Klett TA-2.
Larry,,, the garage has plenty of ventilation but yes,, it does get a bit too hot to work in there during the Summer months. I work inside when the weather is too cold or hot. I also keep my expensive electrics and 1/2A planes inside during the winter. Have had a few thin wings warp on small planes after warming back up. Larger planes can take the heat and cold better.

Here's a pic of the Klett tailwheel on mine. Look back through this thread and you can see what we all did to beef up our landing gear block areas. Trust us .;)

Ordered mine from Central Hobbies.

1 GBG231 KLETT #TA-2 .60 Tail Wheel $18.99 $18.99
Assembly
Sub Total: $18.99
Taxes: $0.00
Standard Ground Shipping: $6.98
Insurance Charge: $0.00
Total: $25.97

RE: Vectorflight Edge 540 build
 

Is the Klett TA-2 the best solution?

what about

http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...?&I=LXHBP5&P=7

Or a Carbon fiber setup....(I saw one..but lost the link)


Just wondering...like I said before....I've settled in the past....and almost always ended up regretting it!


I'm sure this plane won't fly untill next spring...it's going to be my over winter project so I can really get her setup right!

Larry

RE: Vectorflight Edge 540 build
 

Oh..and be assured..Vectorflight closely watches this thread.....

I posted above that I thought the ailerons would come slotted already..and when I checked my e-mail..I found that they offered to FACTORY SLOT THEM FOR 6 BUCKS!!!!

Now I Know how my skills are with a slotting tool..so I told them to DO IT!!!! and BILL ME!

I also asked them what other services they offered....going to take them up on anything out of my comfort level!

Like I wrote to them...It's not that I'm Lazy....I'ts more of a matter of I SUCK!

As my father in law always says..."Gotta Shoot The Geese When Their Fly'in"!


Larry

RE: Vectorflight Edge 540 build
 

Well, the steel tailwheel assembly is kinda heavy. CF or the Kleet would be better IMO.
Another good one is the Sig Mayham's stock tailwheel.

$6.00 for slots eh ? Cool.

Yes , VF keeps an eye on their customers so they can be on top of the situation and stay up with changes I imagine.

RE: Vectorflight Edge 540 build
 

I did a little bit of cleaning on the underside of the canopy. wood chips is also a good source of ballast when you need that fine tuning of the CG. Also a few views of my hanger. Im still have some patch work to do on the wall before i can start hanging things up. Right now the planes live on my floor.

RE: Vectorflight Edge 540 build
 

I found something that really makes your VectorFlight bird shine and maintain it's new look. Blue Magic vinyl cleaner.
After cleaning with Windex or whatever you use at the field , spray a little on a clean soft cloth and wipe on the vinyl covered areas. Then wipe off and shine. Seems to help repel the nitro juice too.

RE: Vectorflight Edge 540 build
 

make your own spring tale wheel assembly,i did mine and used what was supplied with the kit.just went to hardware store and got a small stiff spring and soldered it onto the tale wheel i have pictures posted here somewhere.
rcfury.......is that a pingpong table?...............lol.or should i say was it...............

RE: Vectorflight Edge 540 build
 

Yup I commandeered the pingpong table. I thought I would put it to good use since all it did was sit there and collect dust. Yeah i know its funny but, hey it works. :D

RE: Vectorflight Edge 540 build
 

Well, flew the edge for the first time on friday. Made a few circles and trimmed it out. Flew pretty good. Landings were a bit more tricky than i expected even after reading everything on the board. First attempt sat down a little rough but i was able to turn around and take off again. Second landing was a little faster but still kinda hard. Spread the landing gear a bit. Put it away for the night. Saturday rained all day and snowed in the late evening. Sunday cleared and dried out enough to fly again. Out we went to the runway to give it another try. Prepped the plane and off i went. The wind above the trees was a little stronger than we thought but not enought to be a real problem. flew around a few times and tried a couple of high altitude vertical stalls and then decided to practice landing as suggested by others here. First landing was almost perfect. No bounce, rolled out and turned it around. Took off and circled for another attempt and the wind at the end of the runway made for a little more challenge. rocked it back and forth a bit but made a good landing just short of stalling. Third attempt i brought it in a little hotter to try and fly it onto the runway. Everything looked great, level, straight in on power approach. Moving a fair bit faster than previous attempts. The saito100 running without missing a beat........leveled off a bit at about 3-4 ft, looking perfect and without any warning it dropped straight down and pancaked the runway. Shattered the belly pan, ripped the landing gear off and broke a few more parts in that area. Only thing we could figure out was that either the wind shifted or a downdraft occured. We all just stood there dumbfounded. Unfortunately, the nylon bolts holding the landing gear didn't break. They stripped the hole thru the fuse and ripped off the extra layer of 1/8" ply i had epoxied on. THen the landing gear proceeded to cause further damage to the underside and put a hole in the top half of the fuse behind the canopy then dented the horz stabalizer and broke a guide wire. It hit so perfectly flat the cowl was unhurt and niether wingtip touched the ground. What a good day of flying. I have never had to repair this kind of damage so i will be learning something new. Any links or advice on how to best repair this would be appreciated. All in all it seems to fly well. Looking forward to more successful landings in the future.

Thanks for all the advice and info here, Robbin [sm=tired.gif]

RE: Vectorflight Edge 540 build
 

Could someone PLEASE Find this "Murphy" guy and tell him to repeal his freaking LAW!!!

Seriously..sorry to hear about your bird...Glad to hear that it took a hard hit and didn't total...must be a tribute to the plane's strength.

What is the proper landing setup for this particular plane...given the wing loading, it sounds like coming in a little "Hot" is what it takes.


By the way...since reading through this thread..I note that a common issue is the weight of the plane.

I know there are things that we will be putting in the plane that we have control over, but has anyone looked for ways to potentially shave some weight off the ARF itself?

Sure it's a double edge sword, weight or toughness, but since I know there are some very clever people here..If there is a way to do it...someone here will find it!

Larry

RE: Vectorflight Edge 540 build
 

[link=http://members.cox.net/jstanley1919/MOV00945.MPG]Landing VF Edge540[/link]

Sorry to hear about your landing mishap. We will all help to see you fly again. Most of us have had our moment of sorrow learning the landing procedure. Hope the short vid of me landing above helps some. (Although I missed half the runway that day.)
It was shot during a rare 0 to 3 mph day here in Okla. "Very rare !! Right Larry ?)
Here's my 3 rules for landing this plane. Hope some of the others will pipe in and add thier comments too cuz I'm no Chip Hyde.

1. Whether the headwind is 0-mph or 20-mph never chop the throttle completely till your at least 3 feet from the Earth.
The VF wing is NOT sheeted like other foam core wings that have predictable stall speeds. When the wing mass outweighs the lift, the Edge will drop straight down. No tip stalling. No warnings. It wants to keep flying and floating like a kite. Don't let the wings outfly the fuse with this plane.

2. Leave the throttle up at least 1/8 to 1/4 till the wheels about touch. Or come in at a steep angle of approach. The Pitts is a tough bird to land as well and doesn't like the long drawn out , low approaches either. My cousin lands his full scale Pitts fast and steep, then right at the flare chops the throttle and smoothly rolls down the rw. Let the Edge roll as far out as it needs to after touch down.

3. It's not a UCanDo. It won't float without some rpm turning the prop. It will fool you the way it balloons when you ease back on elevator during landings. Keep it fast till you are ready to touch down.

RE: Vectorflight Edge 540 build
 

The airplane is very tough. It dropped about 3-4' straight down with quite a bit of forwand momentum and most of the damage was confined to the belly pan area. The only other damage was a relult of a departing landing gear. l'm impressed.

I did find that landing a little hot was the best approach method. I was starting to get the landing down when the wind had other plans for me. Interestingly, i found the edge to slow down considerably faster than my trainer. I had to make a shorter approach with power on to get it down. Not what i was expecting.

I recieved an email from John at VF regarding my post. They offered some info and help to get me flying again. Very impressive customer service. Thanks again John.

I will try to post a pic or 2 when i get some.

thanks, Robbin

RE: Vectorflight Edge 540 build
 

Thanks for the welcome Calflyer. I agree with you, I'm either going with the 14/8 or 14/6 prop. With the FX 91, I have to add 2 oz. under the cowl to balance. I did a mod on the belly pan with hard wood and 440 blindnuts and bolts on the front and rear formers, installed 40 size U-Can- Do wheel pants instead of the supplied ones and added Dubro horizontal stab braces. I'm thinking about adding the rear wing connectors like some of the guys did. It looks like a great idea. All in all, I think the plane is a beauty and except for the plastic parts, the quality is 1st rate
I'm still waiting for a new plastic fairing for the tail section and then I'm set to go.
Jeff

RE: Vectorflight Edge 540 build
 

What a great thread!

I just ordered one of these birds this past weekend as my "I'm back" bird. I've been out of the hobby for about 12 years. Recently my daughters got interested while poking around my Grandpop's shop so he built them a trainer and teaching them to fly has really given me a second wind. I have been ringing out his Stinger 90 for a few weeks and need something more capable. VF told me my kit would be here in about two weeks, just can't wait! I found htis thread and have spent the last few days trying to get it all in. I'm up to page 11 now, hehehe. Maybe by the time she gets here I'll be caught up! I also ordered a Polk tracker III and plan on using a .91 4 stroke my Grandpop has sitting around, can't remember the make though. I know it's not an OS or Saito. I figured on using high torques on the rudder and elevator (single servo).

Got plenty or reading and shop prep to do over the next few weeks I guess!

I'm sure you'll here plenty from me shortly.

God bless,

-BunnMan

RE: Vectorflight Edge 540 build
 

Welcome to the clan Bunnman. Your gonna love flying the VF.

RE: Vectorflight Edge 540 build
 

Sturtz:

Do you have the VF Extra in your hanger? I am thinking about picking one up to build over the winter months.

I am almost done with the Edge. Just got to do the cowl, the belly pan and balance it out. I bet Chuck will be glad I am almost done. :) Will have pics soon!!

My throttle rod binds a little bit. Do you think that might be a problem? They put the exit hole for the throttle rod so close to the fuel tank area.

I am thinking about putting in dual elevators, but I will have to use a y-harness because the Futaba 7CAP does not accept it. What do you think? dual elevators or two collars that are supplied with the plane?

Thanks in advance.