Sky Surfer

Apologies accepted Silversurfer. I understand the purpose of this thread. You're very serious about introducing such a good airplane. But we need to keep things a bit light at the same time. I think you can understand my reasoning in this. My apologies to RCTom for creating a distraction in this thread. To him this thread is very serious.
I like the looks of this plane, and if I had a bigger engine in my hanger I have no doubt that I'd be contacting Tom right now to buy one, or get myself put on to the waiting list. I was just looking at the Saito 1.50, and that to me looks like the perfect engine for this plane. If I had the money to buy that engine, that's what I'd put into this plane. I think with that 4 banger 1.50, your WH Edge would be nothing but awesome! Good luck to you, and I'm sure once this plane catches on, you'll sell a million of them. Who knows, maybe in a year or so, I'll be in a position to get a larger Edge, and I'll jump at getting this plane, and putting that Saito 1.50 into it. I want to hear from someone who does have that size of a 4 stroke and puts it into this plane. Take care everyone.

ben beyer

My Feedback: (23)

Is there going to be Carbon Fiber gear available for this bird? Oh, and are Karbonite gears enough?

rctom

I have no idea about CF gear. We don;t make it and honestly this thing is plenty light already.

TF

Tired Old Man

My Feedback: (1)

Iceman,

The engine we were using for the review was brand, spanking new and couldn't be fully peaked out yet. The idle was still very unreliable, and the prop we were using was one that had been just laying around, to the best of my knowledge. This particular prop probably wasted about 50% of the engines output in flex. So, taking all the above into account, no tach readings were ever taken.

Under these conditions, the plane would hold a hover fine, but not climb out of it. I attribute the lack of climb more to the prop and the newness of the engine than anything else. If I once again had the plane (don't rub it in) I would not hesitate to continue with the 2300. In all seriousness, I would have fun flying the plane with anything from a .90 two stroke up to a 1.8 two stroke. The YS 1.20 would be a fine choice as well, IMO. A larger YS would be awesome. Larger engines would make you want to think about radio and servo locations to some extent, but not enough to be any big deal.

Obviously, using the smaller engine sizes would have an impact on the type of flying done, but it's a fun plane in any speed range I flew it at. It's very light on the sticks while still maintaining a "harmony" with the controls that I found to be very pleasing. Managing energy with this plane at very low air speeds was easy! That's how I arrived at the smaller engine choices conclusions.

We had 2 dead stick landings, and on the first I simply released the sticks to see what would happen. Even though it was obviously nose heavy, it picked for itself a very slow glide speed and sink rate and was landed with no damage to the plane, or stress to the pilot. On the second, it was floating so far down the runway that I elected to force it down and bounced it a couple of times. We have a fence at one end of the runway you don't want to go past.

Torqued-Up

My Feedback: (16)

I have a Saito 150 AAC four stroke laying around looking for a home... The dimensions are the same as the Saito 120 and it weighs 30 ounces...

Do you guys think this would be a good fit for the 120 sized Edge 540???

Me thinks me has to have one of deez...

Mark

flatlandmike

My Feedback: (17)

i think that would be a kick ass engine for this plane IMO[8D]

Tired Old Man

My Feedback: (1)

Don't see why not. I used to fly a 12-1/2 to 13 lb. Ultimate around with one and never had a shortage of power.

SunShyne

My Feedback: (68)

Tom

any updates when more of these might be available?


matt

rctom

Funny you should ask. There may be a delay since the factory chose to ignore about half of my change requests. I can't put out a plane like that, so I'm having them do it right and do it over.

I will keep you informed, we'll go as fast as we can.

TF

RustyTumbles

What about small gassers? Like a G26 or 3w 28i.

rctom

You can probably use a small gasser, it's got plenty of wing area.

TF

ben beyer

My Feedback: (23)

What were the changes you requested?

rctom

Lots of little stuff like a larger servo tray, second tank mount for engines with pumps, shorten motor box, etc. Nothing more than irritations.

I like my customers to not have to say "what were they thinking" as they assemble a plane.

TF

airborneSGT

My Feedback: (15)

Tom,

If I cant sell my smaller edge I have a light weight Roto 25 that would be fine in a plane weighing around 11lbs or lighter all up. Plus yours has more wing area then the Yellow Aircraft. Will await the updates. Also my Extra 260 arrived in Tampa! Hope to fly it in a few weeks. Look forward to buying more planes from you in the future!

ben beyer

My Feedback: (23)

Ok, I've been doing a little thinking comparing a Moki 1.8 to an OS 1.60FX. If you're at a low altitude either will be fine. However, if you're moving to a high altitude like me, then the OS would be better. The Moki weighs 9 ounces more than the OS. This means not only do you add more than half a pound to the airplanes weight, but this will also require more tail weight to get it to balance. I'm already planning on using metal geared servos in the tail just to add balast. Possibilities include the Hitec 625MG or 5625MG. Would .18 or .17 speed be enough for 3D to everyone? I'm thinking about using 4.8V NiMH batteries to move the CG back without adding lead. Might just go with Li-Ions on Regulators though.

Tired Old Man

My Feedback: (1)

I like your reasoning regarding engine choices. The servo speeds you note will be just fine.

DPRC

Tom,

What do you think about a Saito 1.80 in this plane?

DP

airborneSGT

My Feedback: (15)

Either the HS635MG's or the digital version the HS625MG will be fine. Should you choose to go with lithiums, you could get away with one 2800mah pack from Troy Built www.troybuiltmodels.com with a 6V regulator. Course you could do the smart thing and get the MPI switch with built in regulator and charging jack. This will simplify things and its what I use in some of my planes. The faster the servos the better, but at 90oz of torque at 6v I think that the either the analog servo or the digital which has more torque and better centering will work fine. You could probably even get away with either the 625MG or its digital version in a 28% to give you an example Nice thing about lithiums is you dont worry about cycling batteries ever and the lithium ions are in a metal case, unlike li-pos, so you are safer as far as them catching fire. Just be sure to use the correct charger and you should be fine. In fact I think the only thing I noticed getting hot was my charger with my lithiums.

STG

My Feedback: (26)

What is the wing area? I am kicking myself as I just put together a F90 and would have really rathered the edge. Wingspan 73", length? What weight are these expected to come in at? 11 pounds with ST2300?

It does look like another winner from WH.

Tired Old Man

My Feedback: (1)

I failed to do some of the measurements on the plane when I did the review. The two failures were both the wing area and the length. Since this wasn't a production kit, a manual wasn't included. In fact, it hadn't yet been written at the time of the review.

Until Tom gets back to you with the actual numbers, all I can say is that the amount of wing area was hefty for the span, and that the length was well proportioned and had nicely balanced flight characteristics. Looking at the pics, you can note how deep the wing root is. This plane can slow down so much it's unbelievable!

Torqued-Up

My Feedback: (16)

After I found this thread a couple days ago, I called Tom to order one of these airframes... I told him I wanted to use a Saito 150 on the plane and he immediately told me that, no, it's not going to fit...

He said that this first batch of airframes that came in had the firewall positioned so that there was 5 1/8" from the firewall to the cowl opening... On my Saito 150, the distance from the back of the engine mount to the back of the spinner is 5 5/8"... Hence the issues Tom stated in this thread about the next batch having the firewall moved back a little...

Mighty nice of him to tell me up front that my engine wasn't going to work with one of the airframes from the first batch...

rctom

The other thing to think about is thye fact that the OS 1.60 will accept some nitro, I understand the Moki's do not like nitro because of high compression. Just what I have heard, no real proof.

TF

RTK

My Feedback: (1)

If ya really gotta have one now, you could cut and reposition the firewall.

STG

My Feedback: (26)

The 1.6FX with Cline would be killer on this plane! & The mileage I get with mine is incredible. It pulls around a 12.8pound edge that is about this same size & I can see being able to come in 2 pounds lighter with the WH edge....very nice. Might want to under prop it a bit though....apc 17x6 might be a good balance.[&:] I will be watching to see when they are available again--might see my F90 in the market place.

Torqued-Up

My Feedback: (16)

Yeah, Tom mentioned that too...

I already have my hands full with projects on the bench now, so it would be a while before I started on this one anyway... Plus, who really wants to open the box on a brand new airframe and immediately have to modify the firewall???

I can wait for the next shipment...