Beware! Xtreme Composite Edge 540 2X2
 

Today I witness a Xtreme Composite Edge 540 2X2 crashed due to snap of wing tube midflight less than 4 minutes of its life!

For those interested, the long story....

One of my buddy got a 2X2 Edge, "Fantasy Orange" back in March. He had another friend who's build skill is meticulous to build it. We all share the same workshop so I was there all though the building of the plane. The woe started right after opening of the box....First there was NO instructions manual! Then, when the builder took fuselage out, as he saw there are quit some dust cling onto it he cleaned it with window spray, only to find orange color on the cloth at just one wipe! Isn't the plane supposed to be "paint on mold" and was "fuel proof"? Shock to know this, we tried a drop of fuel on the elevator part, and volia the paint started to fade! So, the builder had to fuel proof all parts by spraying Dupont clearcoat on... Then, the contol horns are another joke, so the builder changed all that to Dubro ones. The servo tray was in balsa, that the builder substitute that into a carbon plate. A YS 160 Dingo is used to power the plane, all things used in the plane are new. All through the build, I heard the builder continue swearing, but he took time and after over 8 month of building, the plane finally take to the air today.

The wind was calm, skies are blue, great day for test flight. The engine went through 2 tanks on the ground to break in, then up in the air late afternoon. My buddy trim it, and after less than 8 banks, one loop, 4 rolls, and on a straight line (Not even a dive) the left wing all of a sudden snapped midair, the plane with only the right wing rolling into a thick bush. We searched for 2 hours in the bush, still could not find the remains. Tomorrow we will go back and search again, in hopes that the wreakage would tell us what's wrong during flight.

All present at the field felt sad and disgusted to see such a nice looking plane end its life this way. The plane is supposed to be a 3D capable, and could take 50cc engine, but looking at this plane its just too much hot air.

RE: Beware! Xtreme Composite Edge 540 2X2
 

Another good example of "Chinese Junk". Some people never learn, you only get what you pay for.





Harry

RE: Beware! Xtreme Composite Edge 540 2X2
 

Harry did you happen to know that blackshark3 is from china. Open mouth insert foot. LOL

Albert

RE: Beware! Xtreme Composite Edge 540 2X2
 

Yep, I noticed that, but that does not make their prducts any better. Who should know better than him that their products are JUNK? After 8 months of putting this ARF together and the defects were still there it kinda makes you wonder what a piece of crap it was in the begining. Sure says something for their products. LOL



Harry

RE: Beware! Xtreme Composite Edge 540 2X2
 

Way to insult another fellow modeler. I bet you have many things at home made in china including airplane related items.

Albert

RE: Beware! Xtreme Composite Edge 540 2X2
 

hmmm, I wonder if my Silverado was made there?

RE: Beware! Xtreme Composite Edge 540 2X2
 

Sorry to hear that Blackshark. I had great luck with my extreme composite 2.6 m edge. Hundreds of flights with no problems until I knife edged a little too low. It was an awesome plane.

RE: Beware! Xtreme Composite Edge 540 2X2
 

FYI Extreme Composites is in Thailand, not China.

TF

RE: Beware! Xtreme Composite Edge 540 2X2
 

Yep, and the same company that had made a 28 or 29% composite Sukhoi that had more fit, finish and accuracy issues than one could count. That manufacturer is now handled in the U.S. by one of the major turbine kit suppliers for anyone that really wants one. If you're going to spend that kind of money get a Comp Arf and know you have the quality that goes with the price.

RE: Beware! Xtreme Composite Edge 540 2X2
 

Thanks Tom , that was going to be my next question.

Albert

RE: Beware! Xtreme Composite Edge 540 2X2
 

I don't know if referencing GM products really makes any sort of point. Toyota surpased GM is sales a couple days ago. There's a reason. I know after owning my Toyotas I'll never buy another GM (or be stranded on the side of the road at 14,000 miles again).

RE: Beware! Xtreme Composite Edge 540 2X2
 

I don't know this would evolve into an International Trade debate....[:@]

Anyway, back to the plane, more than 10 guys and finally after 3 hours of searching we located the wreakage. The wing that first snapped was about 100 feet apart from the fuselage. The flew out wing was in quite good shape, and it had a section of the wing tube still in. The screw locks of the wing that secure to the side of the fuselage are still intact, with the fastener still tight on the screw, and part of the side of the fuselage is still secured with this wing. However, the fuselage with the other wing found a rock and was badly damaged, broken into 4 parts. Back at the field, with some experienced pilots together with a few owners some very well known brand "JUNK" plane manufactuers, checked the wreakage and all conclude that the side wall of the fuselage that was used to hold onto the wing was too weak, it was tored out mid flight that lead to the wing coming loose on the tube and the loading on the wing chopped the tube. We all feel it is due to deficiency in the strength of the fuselage, and by design this could be prevented. Buddies at the field all wondered what would happen if a DA50 was used....I took photos of the wreakage, if anyone interested just let me know how to attach it into a post.

With this thread I want to raise attention to the manufacturer, shops who will be carrying this plane or anyone who is interested in getting one, in hopes that the manufacturer would modify the design, so the others would enjoy a greater and better product. I hate to see such a nice looking plane went down like that, its no dignity. However, even more I hate to see someone transform this thread into expressing flame and hatred....[:@]

RE: Beware! Xtreme Composite Edge 540 2X2
 

I for one are very gratefull of your post here until a week or so ago I had my heart set on getting this plane and using the same setup with the YS160, it was only until I found out the price here in the UK that I decided against it. I was quoted £835GBP which is far more than there other 2 metre models (The OTOP @£650GBP) and much more than say the Comp ARF 2meter Extra, to the poster who said "you only get what you pay for" certainly isnt the case here and as for cheap junk, I have never seen a 2 meter Edge more expensive than the £835 I was quoted.
Its a shame as I think its a great looking plane.

How was the power of the YS160 in it, if you had a chance to find out? and how easy was it to acheive the correct CofG?

I am now looking at the Graupner 2 meter Edge540T Composite https://shop.graupner.de/webuerp/servlet/AI?ARTN=9386
If anyone has more info on this I would apreciate it.

Thanks for your information
Jason

RE: Beware! Xtreme Composite Edge 540 2X2
 

I would love to see a full pic of the plane before and after shots! Very sorry for the mishap my heart would of sank even though it was`nt mine fellow modelers always hate to see the demise of a good bird like that it SUCKS reinforce the hell out of it and fly it like ya all stole the damn thing!
Mark

RE: Beware! Xtreme Composite Edge 540 2X2
 

Nope - Made in Mexico.


Toyota Camry - Made in Kentucky

go figure.

RE: Beware! Xtreme Composite Edge 540 2X2
 

Jason: Of the short life of the plane with the YS160 Dingo, the pilot did a loop to find that power was only good for aerobatics but not hot 3D move. Without the instructions the builder balanced the plane at 30% from the leading edge as a start, but he had to put in about 300 grams of weight inside the engine cavity while moved the receiver battery up against the firewall to achieve that. The plane had a short nose and a long tail. and with the elevator servos installed inside the elevators it was inheritly tail heavy.

Homeboy: If you could show me how to attach photos into post I would do so, or PM me your email and I will have them sent over. Yes its very sad to see such a nice looking plane went down like this. Still ths incidence is the topic of discussion at our field.

RE: Beware! Xtreme Composite Edge 540 2X2
 

[:o]mmmmn - interesting - something looks fishy here - the planes are good quality and things like soft wing tubes are pretty familiar to the design team as the 2.6 bent tubes in the early days - any feed back from the factory??

RE: Beware! Xtreme Composite Edge 540 2X2
 

Harry that is a blanket statement that is not 100% accurate, I will agree that there is a lot of junk products coming out of Asia but not everything is Junk!

I had a few AM/TOC arfs and they were pretty good quality, not to mention a few gas engines, and my latest purchases are Super Pocket Bikes 3 of them, all Bad *****!

Not to bad mouth a company but Extreme Composites are inferior to C-Arf and will always be sub par...they wish they could produce as nice of a product as Comp-Arf...sure maybe some planes do end up being nice...the owner of Extreme was taught by the Composite-Arf man himself, he then got a big head and went on his own...

We will see I guess..

RE: Beware! Xtreme Composite Edge 540 2X2
 

Seems like a bad apple got inot the mix and disaster has struck!@ Shame though, my friends has lasted over 500 flights and numerous IMAC competitons with a few podiums with his. Doesnt seem like "chinese junk" to me

Kinda get tired of the anti chinese product threads and staements, some people need to un-stick their heads out their @$$$3$ and get over it....

RE: Beware! Xtreme Composite Edge 540 2X2
 

ahha - guns blazing - i believe the factory will come to the party if they were approaced in a respectfull manner. i have seen several of the NEW Xtreme comp planes and boy they are rock solid quality!!fact

RE: Beware! Xtreme Composite Edge 540 2X2
 

Well, as I see it, as long as people are too lazy to build their own planes, they will have to put up with
this imported junk. Although, I must admit, I have seen some darned nice ARFs...I still prefer to build my own.
NO ARFs in my hangar..

RE: Beware! Xtreme Composite Edge 540 2X2
 

maineac58: Back when I was in the States I build planes myself, and when I do I would park my cars in the driveway to vacant the garage for building the plane until its finished. Space is not a problem then. However, here in Asia, and especially in Hong Kong, where land prices is amongst the highest in the world, space is a problem here. Our workship, and actually the whole block of 20 something floor building located in downtown where the workshop is, belongs to my friend who happens to be the owner of the short lived Edge in question. He is willing to vacant one flat in his buildings the size of a two car garage of most houses in the States to become a workshop to be used amongst his friends, and such a workshop, although maybe very common in the States, is a rarity here and fellow modellers here could only dream for such a workshop. All this to say that in some country it is not a choice of whether to build or to buy ARF, but a necessity.

Further, the owner of the Edge wanted a molded composite plane painted with vibrant color scheme as he gets tired of the wrinkling and pealing of cover films. Such a plane is not easy, be it impossible, for a normal modeller to build. Actually I am the one who point out to my friend about this Edge, so morally I am taking responsibility for making a bad choice too. I did look at Comp ARF but they only offer an Extra at this size and my friend already have too many Extras and Caps in his stables that's why we went to Xtreme.... Also, legally for a model airplane here the biggest we could only go up to 7.5KG weight limit without fuel, so those 100cc size planes are out of reach for us.

One of our friends who had contact with Xtreme will report this incidence to them. Let's see what would happen...

RE: Beware! Xtreme Composite Edge 540 2X2
 

Blackshark,
So very sorry to hear about your mishap. Especially when so much labor and love was put into assembling the arf. Unfortunatally, even if the manufacture stands behind the plane and replaces it....nothing can be done for all that sweat and efforts that was put into the assembly. Tragic!

Regardless of the manufacture building them in asia,thialand,china,japan....There is good and bad manufactures and I would have to say that there are MANY excellent arfs coming out of the woodworks over there and for those of you that feel that you must "BASH" other countries for trying to produce products.....Shame on you. Maybee everyone should look at the tag on their shirt their wearing ar the appliances in their home! Now they don't seem so bad huh?
If I was in blacksharks position where it was so tough for space and expensive for that space...I don't know if I would have the ambition or wallet to support the R/C hobby. You obviously have a big love for the hobby blackshark and people like you are good to the hobby. Unfortunatally not every body posts facts. R/C tom and silversurfer are always a pleasure to read because they post great info to those of us who don't know and want answers.
Good luck.

RE: Beware! Xtreme Composite Edge 540 2X2
 

I own an Xtreme composite plane (sukhoi), and although it flies nice, it is not in the same league as Comp-Arf.
Some day they might, just not right now. The fit and finish is just not there and more than a few modifications/corrections need to be made buy the purchaser before flight. This has never been the case for me with comp-arf's.

RE: Beware! Xtreme Composite Edge 540 2X2
 

I've got an X-Treme Composite 2.6m Edge (the one that BVM distributes in the US), and the quality of it is second to none. It is easily the equal of my buddy's 2.6m Composite Arf Yak 55. As I understand it, they have different levels of quality, and grade them based on blemishes in the paint etc. Mine is the A grade, or the highest, that's probably why it is as nice as it is.

I'm thinking that this is an isolated incident, there are isolated problems in any line. I witnessed a wing tube bending on an Edge identical to mine, it ended up that the wing tube was manufactured wrong. Still, it bent under some real abuse, it was a fast wall that did it in, and the plane was still flyable to get it back. The plane was replaced under warranty without any trouble, and that incident is one of the reasons why the planes that BVM distributes now come with a stronger tube.