Hi all,

This winter begins my 6th kit (this time a short kit). Perhaps if this one actually flys, I might try a scratch build one day. It's an Edge 540 designed and packaged by Doug Lee in Pheonix (D&L Designs) and is offered as a plan or a "short kit" which is what I purchased (the plans, canopy, main landing gear, wing joiner tube and laser cut parts which consist of formers for the fuse, wing ribs and ply parts for the firewall etc...). I purchased a large box of balsa, spruce and ply from Sig Mfg, and Fiberglass specialties makes the cowl and wheelpants. For this project I plan on using all Futaba radio gear and although I haven't decided yet, I'm leaning towards a DL-50 engine.

I started with the wings first. The wing ribs have tabs to make the assembly process easier and without a jig. The holes for the wing tube, pins and servo wires are already cut in, and the end of the wing that attaches to the fuse has a 1/16" ply "end rib" with the holes (for the wing tube; dowel pins and wing bolt) lined up perfectly with the fuse side doublers. The entire wing is sheeted with 1/8" balsa. So far no real surprises. Comparing this to an Extra ARF I have, this looks like it will build on the heavy side. The plans call for 14-1/2 to 15-1/2 lbs; hopefully I get there.

One thing highlighted in the building notes was to line the spruce wing spars with carbon fiber to add strength. I never worked with the stuff before, but I had the hardest time getting out the splinters!!!

Here's a picture of the Edge 540 Prototype and its designer, Doug Lee:

I bought an 80" kit 10 years ago and one thing led to another and I'm just getting back to it. My question is how many servos did you use in the wing. I'm going to put a BME 50 in it. What size servos did you use? I use a Futaba radio. Any information about the set up would be helpful. Do you have a back battery setup in it?