This is my Edge 540T that started as an all white version. It will have a DA 50 but it is still on the stand being broke in. Maybe this weekend.

Couple more

last one

Nice job, I have an all yellow version that should've arrived in Dallas today (oct. 5th). what did you use to paint the cowling and did you trim it out with monokote or ultracote?

Great question, I would like to know myself. I'm going to be doing an all white edge when flying weather gets bad.

I trimmed it out with Monokote and used lusterkote to paint the red on the cowl and then had the metallic charcoal color matched at the local automotive paint store, I think it ended up being a match on a 1994 toyota bumper. Then cleared it with Lustekote clear.

About the only covering I did not remove was on the rudder and elevators. The rest I removed and redid with white ultracote, I just wanted the lines and seems to look a little better.

I haven't used monokote as trim before in large areas like that so was it hard to get it to lay flat and look good? And you clear coated the whole cowl with lustrecoat clear?

Anywhere that I was going to put the monokote, I made a pattern and cut away the Ultracote to about a 1/4" less than the actual size to allow for over lapping. So the monokote only really over laps the ultracote by a 1/4". With the exception of the 1/2" charcoal stripe, that is layed right over the ultracote with no problems.

On the cowl, I masked off the section to paint and then sanded it with 400 and 600 wet sand. Painted the two different colors, removed the mask and then wet sanded the entire thing with 600 including the white. Washed it and then applied a couple of coats of Lusterkote crystal clear over the entire cowl.

thats a very nice job very nice

Sorry I couldn't get this clearly. Did you mean you had to remove all the coverings other than on the rudder and elevators and recovered it again with white ultracote? Why?

I really liked your scheme too. Add some more decals and it will look much better in my opinion. I know that there are a lot of threads about trimming ultracote (which I believe wild hare planes use) with monocote but yours is a good example that it can be done effectively.

The only thing I don't like about monokote is how hard it is to iron out wrinkles and when you use the heat gun you just make more. I haven't tried econokote though and that may be what i use. I have to do some more research and think about it more. Right now I'm trying to decide on a great deal on a great engine...

I had that kind of experience with monocote too and the only thing that I consider using it is because it seems that they offer a lot more choices of colors compared to ultracote, as I see in our LHS.

abcando,

I removed the covering from every part of the plane that I added the monokote. I made templates for that and cut to about a 1/4" smaller to allow for overlap.

I also removed all of the covering from the entire fuselage and rudder. Basically, the seam lines were not cut straight. They were cut after applying the covering rather than before so they were all over the place. Since I was taking the time to make templates and make sure the lines were nice, I wanted them to all be nice. So, in order to have a nice match with the white that I have on the fuse and where it would match up with the Ultracote I left on the wing root and elev., I used Ultracote again for the white. When I got the Ultracote white and Monokote white out in the sun there was just enough difference to notice that they were two different brands.

Hope that makes sense.

As for the decals, I only have the Tru-turn ones on the cowl, and then the JR-Propo on both elevator halves as well as a small Hitec on each half. It did not show up real well on the picture but in the red on the rudder top it also has an all white JR-Propo. Those are the only ones I have right now and did not want to just have JR decals on it so I am trying to come up with others. I would like to add something with DA-50R and possibly that logo.

Friend of mine has the little guy that is always going on Ford or Chevy but he is going on the word "gravity" I might try to get that on there.

I got you now Tricktrack. Thanks for explaining. I'm getting this all white version too and I just wonder why you had to do it. I guess I'll have to see it myself. For the decals, check out www.aero3dgfx.com. They seem to have a lot of nice stuff in there whatever brand of engine you might decide to use.

Hope to see some more pictures as you go on, and bigger too if possible

Will do, I will keep you posted and try to put some bigger pics. Thanks for the link

Maiden of this plane took place yesterday with good results. Flew twice more today and have no complaints. Roll rate was a little quick for me at first so dialed that back a bit and I will have to program in a very small amount of up for knife edge.

Only thing I need to look at is the tail wheel. It just isn't getting tight enoungh and tends to get cocked to one side causing some interesting happenings on landing.

That doesn't sound good. I've never had that problem, what's your set up?

I used the supplied tailwheel from the hardware pack. I am using a three inch bolt through the bottom hole on the rudder and the supplied springs connected to the bolt with the supplied white plastic screw on horns and then to the tiller arm.

I dont know if I am not getting the secure screw tight enough or what but I can hold the tiller arm and twist the wheel. Also, the spring setup does not let the wheel track precisely with the rudder, it lags behind the motion.

I will take any advice if this does not sound right. I might try to snap some pics and put them on.

You have it right. The springs are there to protect your rudder servo from extreme shocks. IT does not need to be real precise, just enough to allow you to taxi without running into anything.

TF

How much tension do you have in the springs? When I was setting up my Hangar 9 CAP, I had to shorten the springs a little so that there was a little tension in them.

seems to be quite a bit of tension

all i can think of is close down the flight line and taki the plane up and down the runway moving the rudder stick back and forth and watch what it does.

Flight update,

Getting the trims and percentages dialed in on this plane and it just keeps getting better and better. My original CG was very close the the 5" mark and I am experiencing hands off flight on level upright flight and dead level hands off flight when inverted, so I have not touched it. The amount needed to dial in knife edge is going to be very very small, almost unnoticeable but needed.

Once the trims and values have been dialed in including increasing expo and decreasing the throws from the first flight, I can not say enough about this plane. It flies as true as anything that I have seen (I havn't seen a lot though). Rolls are very axial and in fact if you do more than think about any up or rudder in multiple rolls, I will loose my line because it flies hands off in both positions. Snaps and very tight and the over all tracking of the plane is unreal. You really only need to point it where you want and it stays on that heading. With high rate elevator flat spin was a piece of cake. I have yet to try anything with hovering and harriers but hope to get some experience with them on this plane as well.

Really a fun plane to have!

to quote a kool guy Mr Mills, "i love it when a plane comes togethere".[8D]

My Son and I use Zip ties between the springs and the Tiller arms and whatever you have attached to the rudder.
You can loop the zip ties and adjust to the tension required to get the amount of tailwheel follow you desire. This
system works well on all sizes of airplanes.

Gerald