hornetnz

Some of you may have already read my other thread, but I decided to make a new one for the actual construction (If you can call finishing an ARF construction). This is my first plane over OS .46 size, and I'm really excited to finally have a plane that will do what I want so I can expand my aerobatic abilities. I bought this kit from a club member at our air-show last summer. It was new in box. And another club member sold me a barely used OS 1.6 fx engine for a good price, so that should be a great combo from what I hear.

Flyboy Models Edge 540 (http://www.flyboymodels.com/servlet/Detail?no=23)
Wingspan: 74.8 in
Wing Area: 961 sq in
Total Length: 64 in
Engine: OS 1.6 fx
Radio: Futaba 6xa

The directions for this kit are HORRIBLE...talk about the bare minimum. It looks like the copy/pasted in random pics and diagrams and photocopied it. There are no measurements, no text instructions, nuthin. I finally got ahold of the guy that sells the kits and found out he's never built one of the kits and has no way to answer my questions. UGH..not what I was hoping for!! For these reasons I wouldn't suggest any kits from these guys...I dont even know what Im gonna do if I need replacement parts.

The kit itself seems to be of decent quality. The construction is light and sturdy. Wings are foam core with balsa sheeting. Everything is covered in a just ok monocote design, but seams and edges look to be done well. Heres some pics of the kit contents.

hornetnz

First problem I came across was while installing the elevator & rudder servos. The width of the fuse towards the tail is not thick enough to house 2 servos back to back, as seen in pic. I was told this is a common problem with ARFs, so I glued some small 1/8" ply pieces under the one end on both servos to make up the needed space. I coulda done just one side, but I figured its better to do both so that both servos operate at the same angle.

I then installed the wing servos and control horns without problems. The directions did not specify any measurements for the control horn location, but I found a hardwood block in the aileron and figured thats what it was there for. For those new, remember to use a servo saver of some type to hold your servo extension plugs together...you dont want them to come apart during flight!! Dont recall the brand I used...its just a flat plastic rectangle with slots on both sides for the wires to slide into. $1.50 for 2...not bad for some piece of mind.

hornetnz

Next step was to install my Great Planes switch & charge jack. I picked a spot just behind the cowl and under the leading edge of the right wing. Used the included template to cut the rectangle out of the side and tossed it in. Had to dremel out a notch in one of the horiz brace pieces (you can see the piece in post 1) to allow the on/off switch to sit down all the way, but no biggie there.

Then came prep-work for attaching the tail fins. I mounted the wings and slid in the horiz stabilizer. With some help from the wife, we took measurements from the wingtip to the front and back corners of the stab to get it squared up. Once that was done, I took the side of a flat-head screwdriver and etched lines in the stab on top and bottom. Then I slid it out and cut off the monocote following those lines. Tossed some epoxy on both sides, slid it back in and checked measurements again before the epoxy set. I then did the same process for the vertical stab.

Its startin to look like a plane now! Progress is goin well, I should have it done later this week if I can figure out what to do with the firewall pieces.

hornetnz

Ooops, heres the one with the stabs glued in. I also worked last night and got both elevators and the rudder hinges glued in. They came with CA hinges pre-glued into the flaps already. I would've rather used a pinned hinge because I know CA hinges can sometimes break, but seeing as they were already half-glued in..it woulda been a chore to dig them out.

hornetnz

Didn't do much last night, but heres a lil update. Mounted the tailwheel that was included with the kit. I'm sure its nothing great, but I dont care right now..its just a tailwheel. I also glued in some ply support blocks in the fuse at the wing bolt locations. The directions showed some black plastic supports being screwed in, but they weren't included in the parts bag...so I made my own. Maybe could have done without, but I didnt want to risk crushing the balsa and thin ply that was there.

I do have some questions pertaining to some upcoming stuff for anyone reading.
[ul][*]I got a Great Planes fuel filler, but im not sure I understand how to link it in. Fuel tank has 3 tubes (A for the normal long tube for taking gas to engine, B and C are curved vent tubes on top and bottom). Does the filler attach between the engine and A, or between the muffler and B/C? In fact, I dont recall using tanks that had 3 outlets...what are B and C normally routed to?[*]Should I consider reinforcing the landing gear area of the fuse to minimize damage if theres a hard landing? What to reinforce with?[*]I would like to get an on-board glow system so I dont have to mess with nicd glowplug starters. Can ya'll suggest a decent one?
[/ul]

hornetnz

No real updates yet, been busy and had to go out of town this weekend. I did manage to get the aileron hinges glued in a couple days ago.

Had a water incident in the upstairs bathroom yesturday. Enough water leaked that it went thru the floor into the basement...right onto the end of the table I have out working on the plane. THANK GOD that my airplane, transmitter and DSLR camera were moved to another table earlier last week!! I also got lucky and had my receiver in one of the plastic servo boxes. PHEW!!!!

mtwister

Please take no offense, but your aileron linkages are very inaddequate for this plane. You should NEVER use a z bend or a quick fitting on the ailerons once the planes get this big. This should have no less than Sullivan style fittings or ball joints. Also, the alignment of the aileron control horn to the servo is way off. You will be wasting alot of the servos power by pushing it outwards. Just an FYI. The joys of learning giant scale

hornetnz

Yeah I was thinking I may need to upgrade the linkages as well. This is just what came with the box, so it's what I used for now. I'm meeting with one of the pro-builders in the club tomorrow to figure out the firewall and engine mounting, so I will be sure to ask his advice on that too. Thanks for the suggestion. Can you explain why ball-joints are so much better than others? Less resistance or?
I'm pretty limited to the location of the control horn on the aileron as that was the location of the hardwood block. But again thanks for the info, I'll be sure to ask about that as well.

hornetnz

Well last night went excellent! We put our heads together and managed to figure out what should be the correct mounting for the engine. We figured out that the three square pieces of ply are pretty much used for shims, so you can vary the depth of the engine depending on what engine you use. We had to use all 3 pieces to bring it out far enough from the cowl. We also figured out, by chance, that the 4th piece with the slot and tab is meant to connect the top of the firewall to the next bulkhead to enforce the integrity.
So now we have the engine mounted and cowl hole made for the needle valve. Just have to cut some clearance in the cowl for the muffler and drill some small holes to screw on the cowl. My only beef right now is the spinner plate doesnt line up parallel to the end of the cowl. It looks like the engine mount/firewall has some built-in downforce.
I also spray painted the landing gear over the weekend. Managed to get a VERY close match on the blue, which I was happy about since I picked a random blue spray can off the store shelf. I will be mounting that tonight or tomorrow.

I'll post some pics tonight!

mtwister

Hornetnz,

You don't even have to use ball joints, but at least use the type of connection you have at the control horn now, on both ends. The quick type connectors fail rather easily. But yes, ball joints give you much less friction, and also have little tendency to wear and create slop. I think if you used 4-40 pushrods, with clevises on both ends, that would work fine for a plane this size.

Plane looks great!

hornetnz

Ok so after finding out the engine wasnt mounted squarely, I decided to take off half the mount and fill the holes from the engine with epoxy. I'm gonna let it cure for a day and redrill. Once I get that reinstalled correctly, I need to put the muffler on and cut a clearance hole for it. I might need one for the head of the engine too, but I'd like to avoid that if possible. Whats the minimum distance recommended between cowl and engine head?

I also mounted the landing gear last night. One of the pre-installed blind nuts had epoxy in it, so I had to take it out and replace it. I put the wheels on temporarily until I feel like setting up the wheel pants....which likely wont be used anyway since we have grass runways and they tend to cause problems.

I also bought some ball links per your suggestions and will work at replacing the zbends with those. I'm also upgrading the rods from the included 2-56 to 4-40 rods.

I'm also starting to think about how I want to detail the plane, particularly the bottom. The bottom of the wings, fuse and stabs are all just plain blue. BORING! Below is a sketch of what I'm thinking so far. Still deciding if I want blue/white or black/white stripes. Planning on using some chrome on the wingtips to catch the sun. Whatcha think?

mtwister

You can get away with as little clearance as possible with the head towards the cowl, you just don't want them touching.

hornetnz

Well just got done with a couple more hours of work trying to finish the bird up. Progress is going well.

Finished remounting the engine (squarely this time!). You can see how much difference it made between pic 1 and 2. I'm still unable to get the end of the cowl to be parallel to the nosecone backplate, but its a lot closer than it was. Pic 3 shows some new bolts I put on the engine mount (hex head instead of phillips) and the hole I drilled in firewall for the throttle control rod. Pic 4 shows how we figured out how one of the random included pieces of ply attaches the firewall to the first former. Pic 5 shows the throttle control rod and a ply piece I glued in to support the tube.
Pick 6 and 7 are the slot I had to cut in the bottom of the cowl for the muffler. Its a shame I had to cut all of that since the muffler only sticks out less than 3/4", but the cowl wouldnt stretch over the muffler and the fuse sides at the same time.
Pic 8 shows the fuse all together so far.

Left to do: replace the blind nut that came out in the landing gear (and maybe the other 3 if I can pry them out), mount the wheel pants, cut the replacement control rods (4-40 instead of 2-56) and attach the ball mounts to servo arms, solder clevises on the other end, hook-up and anchor the fuel tank, cut hole in fuse and cowl for fuel filler, anchor receiver and battery, screw on prop and nosecone.

I also need to find an inexpensive onboard glow. I only really want it for starting the engine so I dont have to use nicads. Can anyone suggest one?

BTerry

My Feedback: (8)

Take a look at these: http://www.42-percent-products.com/glow-accessories.htm

I have not used the glow heater, but I have two of their ignition kill switches and they are very good.

hornetnz

Thanks for the link. Everything im finding is throttle controlled. I cant believe its so hard to find a simple one thats just an on/off switch. =/

hornetnz

As of last night, I successfully replaced the elevator and rudder control rods with new rods, ball joints and solder clevises. Tonight I'll replace the aileron linkages as well. The new throttle rod I got is apparently slightly larger than the one included, so I gotta go back to the LHS and see if theres a smaller diameter. The throttle rod included would do the job, but the one end isnt threaded cuz they want you to use the included quick ez adjust screw-down type of servo connector. I dont trust those farther than I can throw them. I could use the rod that I got, but I would have to dig out the plastic sleeve of the current one that I already epoxied into the fuse.

I also installed the fuel filler. The balsa filler pieces you see are because the drill wandered from my original spot I picked because of the ply on the inside. No biggie, I've got some yellow trim sheets that will cover that.

And last pic is the fuel tank all hooked up finally. The fuel-line clips I got are too big tho (even tho it says their for medium fuel tube ***) and the fuel-line T i got turned out not to be a T after all. Oy. Back to the LHS I go again.

I tossed the wings on and everything to do a quick cg test. If I'm reading it right, it looks nose-heavy as of right now. I may end having to put a ply horizontal piece in farther back to mount the battery. Not worried about it for now until all the rest of assembly is done.

I also tested the throws with the new linkages. I appear to be getting approx 1/4-1/2" more throw with left rudder than right. What might cause this?? The servos were on center when I screwed the control arm on and the arm is near perpendicular at center.

hornetnz

Worked till 2am last night. Got the new ball links and thicker rods installed on the ailerons. I may end up redoing one as I think I cut it a lil too short. I also got the new 2mm rod for the throttle. I got it cut and z-bended...slid it in from inside out and got it STUCK! The threads gripped the plastic sleve and wouldn't budge. It took me a good 30min to get it in! Had to bend the clevis end a little to get a better angle, but not much.

Re-arranged the fuel lines so the T is inside the firewall. I then drilled a small hole on the bottom for the overflow fuel tube to exit. Also glued in the top firewall reinforcement piece. Have to remember to put fuel line clips on the T. I also used my dremel to bore a hole in the cowl for the fuel filler.

I put the wings on and plugged everything into the receiver and spent some time getting the radio programmed. Reversed the throttle channel, set flaperon mode on, set dual rates to 75% on ail and ele. The Futaba 6xa book says dual rate should affect aileron and elevator..but elevators dont move any more/less with it on...anyone know why? All of my throws are pretty close to directions suggested travels. I think it was 30mm aileron, 40mm elevator, 60mm rudder. I still am seeing more rudder throw one way vs the other.

Finished the night by ironing on some trim pieces at the corners of the horiz and vertical stabilizers and the fuse. Just realized I didnt put any on the bottom of the horiz stabs. Might skip it since I dont have any blue.

Pics next time.

hornetnz

Heres some pics of the stuff before and some more work I've been doing on detailing the bottom of the wings. That will be done tomorrow night. All thats left is to do the wheel pants and the canopy! I also need to buy and install a onboard glow ignition. I'm looking at the Sullivan onboard glow driver currently. Also pondering a perry pump that I've read alot of people with this engine use, but I'm gonna see how it runs first. I'd also love to hook some smoke up to this baby, but that will have to wait for a future paycheck. If anyone has suggestions for the onboard ignition, pump or smoke system...I'd love to hear it!

And now...the pics!

hornetnz

Well the wing design is done. I'm glad I changed my mind from trim sheets to regular monokote. Trim sheets would been too much of a hassle with bubbles with stripes that large. I did seem to have issues getting the monokote to stick to the monokote under it, using windex method or heat...if I grabbed a corner, it would just peal right up with very little resistance. My only thought is that the original covering might be econocote or something else. It is an overseas kit, so econocote might be a possibility. I also put on a strip of holographic sun-catcher sticker tape on the leading edge. Sparkly! Anyways, a couple pics below of the wings all done. I might get some custom graphics made later to spice it up.

Test-fitted my prop and spinner. Come to find the jam-nut that the guy gave me with the engine, isnt for this specific prop/spinner. The tru-turn bolt wont go in all the way. Unfortunatley, looks like the correct jam nut adapter is $9. I went to hardware store and got a shorter bolt as a temp solution until I feel like wasting $10 on that. The new bolt works fine, its just black instead of silver.

Glued my canopy on tonight with Goop and taped down all the edges. It appears to be silicone based. I put a small bead all the way around the inside of the canopy and slid it on. Goop was suggested by several people on several forums, so I got that at the local department store and took back my bottle of 560 canopy glue.

I have 2 roadblocks. Maybe someone out there can suggest.
#1 - The CG appears to be quite nose heavy. I cut a ply tray for my Rx battery to go back as far as I can, just under the front of the turtle deck. The plane balanced ok after I set 2 pieces of normal hobby weights on the elevators (totalling 6oz!). If I put these 2 sticks of weights on the tray with the battery...it wont be as far back and hence wont give the balance I need. I would really like to hear your suggestions on the best ways to add weight to the tail!

#2 - Wheelpants. I drilled the holes n such. But I realized that the picture in the directions has the bolt/axel going from the inside of the wheelpant, thru the tire and out the inside of the landing gear. There is noooo way the bolt will go inside the wheelpant with it already thru the hole in the wheel. The only way I can see this being possible is drilling the hole for the bolt/axle thru both sides of the wheelpant, which cant be right. How would you guys suggest mounting the wheel & pant? fyi: the directions have the following setup: hex-head bolt, then washer, then the wheel, then washer, then a wheel collar, then a nut - all inside the wheelpant. That all goes thru the wheelpant side and landing gear, which is then secured with a nylon nut on the end. I'm sure theres a better way.

BTerry

My Feedback: (8)

Simple. Just plug it into your retract switch instead of the throttle.

hornetnz

Well the day came! Maiden voyage Saturday June 21. Did a bunch of lil finishing work the week before to get it ready for the weekend. Have some pics that I'll post later. Basically just velcroed the receiver and tank down, sealed all the hinges (man that was a pain!), got the cowl ready, etc. For those watching the thread, the plane ended up right around 10 pounds empty. I ordered some APC 18x6w props due to popular vote for this OS 160 engine. Unfortunately, I wasnt thinking straight and found out my tru-turn spinner wasnt made for wide props. So i got a cheap plastic one and carved it out to get me thru this weekend. I will order the correct tru-turn spinner this week.

Anyways, onto the flight! Had a buddy from my old club take it up since he has experience with this motor and the Edge. Rollout went smooth and into the air it went! Barely any trimming was needed and it flew flat and level hands off. He said the elevator was VERY touchy, so the recommended throws must have been too much. He took it around for a few laps, did inverted with barely any down input needed. Rolls were very crisp and axial. Landed after only 5 minutes so we could fix the elevator. Turns out I dont have EXPO on my 6xa radio, so instead I toned the dual rates down by half...from 75/100 to like 45/65. Storm rolled in later so we didnt get it up. Sunday we got it up again, elevator behaving much better now. But now it richened up a lot after just a minute in the air. Turns out the nut holding my fuel filler onto the fust must have vibrated off and was moving around, so we think thats what happened. I hope great planes can send me a new nut, cuz I dont wanna spend $15 on a new filler.

All in all, I didnt get to fly it yet. But he said the plane flew great, had excellent power and control. I should be very happy with it!