Kits 3D Hobby Shop 41" Edge 540 Build Log

[danhampson]

Today ive taken delivery of a 3DHS 41" Edge.



The electronics for the build are:

72g Omega Motor 425w 1100kv (3DHS recommended) With APC 11x5.5
YGE 60amp ESC (overkill but 16g lighter than the recommended CC Ice lite 50)
4 x savox sh-0257
Futaba R2008SB
Futaba 8J

So far ive unpacked and inspected the air frame, there are a few small wrinkles in the covering (heat gun sould be here tomorrow or wed to sort that out). other than the wrinkles the air frame is awesome.

Im hoping to start work in the airframe once the heat gun arrives.

 

[Slobberdog]

Sweet Dan nice bird you will have in the end,

 

[Derek]

That's gonna be awesome!!!

 

[danhampson]

cant wait to get it built, ive not really flown in the last month after a car accident and a take over going on at work and ended up killing the wot 4 foamie doing knife edge up and down the field.

 

[Graham Lawrie]

Looks good Dan hope nothing wrong after car accident?

 

[danhampson]

Looks good Dan hope nothing wrong after car accident?

getting there graham, i had whiplash in my back that was pretty much it mate.

Ive put a couple of hour in on the edge today.



Omega 72g motor.



test fit of the cowl im happy with the distance from the cowl to the prop.





test fit of the wings

 

[Graham Lawrie]

That looks really nice

Also would not underestimate whiplash Years ago i got rearended as a passenger, still got issues to this day 14 years later

 

[danhampson]

yeah im finding that it comes and goes, or is a bit more bearable some days.

sorry no pics today guys not enough time again, spent another hour on it today, the reciever and servos are installed (need it be neated up) and 90ed, control horns and push rods are installed. all surface directions are correct.

 

[danhampson]

I've come to the point were I'm going to set my control surfaces throws. Should I even the throws out with travel adjust and then use D/R to get the desired throws or should I set the max desired throws with the D/R?

 

[danhampson]

Ive finally got her finished and setup as per the manual.



As im not going to be trying any 3D for the time being, so i am thinking of changing the positions of the links in the servo arms to give me better resolution from the servos.

the rates that i have programmed at the moment are

Ail Low 15° High 28° Max 40°
ele Low 13° High 45° Max 50°
rud Low 45° High 45° Max 50° (touching ele)

Ive been looking into f3a/imac setups for an average amount of deflection, to use as a starting point for my setup. I would like to bring all the max servo throws closer to the low rates to get the max resolution out of the servos. this would make my D/R look something like this.


Ail Low 15° High 20° Max 28°
ele Low 13° High 18° Max 26°
rud Low 21° High 45° Max 50° (touching ele)

Any thoughts or advice would be appreciated, as most of you know im new to this fixed wing stuff.

 

[RandyDSok]

I think you will really like the little Edge... but it's not the best one for f3a/imac because it has a short coupled tail on it... although you could still practice your moves with it. If you want a good sport/3D/imac type ... look at the Vyper, it will cut some really nice lines in the sky as well as do great with 3D stuff.

I have the same equipment with the exception that I went with the cheaper Hitec HS-65MG servo's instead of the Savox... My radio is the 8fg

 

[danhampson]

Nice line up you have there Randy.

I'm really looking forward to getting her in the air. should be tomorrow, the weather report is good but we will see what happens.

 

[RandyDSok]

This is one tough bird also... the only accident mine has had so far was when it was sitting still on one of the field tables and a kid flew his plane into it. It cracked the acrylic canopy and dinged the balsa on the side a little... ordered a replacement canopy and replanked the balsa and patched in the covering.

The Vyper is not flyable though... I had an aileron failure and it spiraled in... I'll replace it after a while but it will be a tough choice between their red and yellow versions... I like them both.

 

[danhampson]

I like the look of the 47" extra, the only problem is that its not stocked Europe that I can find.

I've got the edge to start to learn aerobatics. I chose the edge just because the airframe is cheap and its a good quality kit.

What's short coupled tail? And how does this affect the flight characteristic's?

 

[RandyDSok]

Short coupled... the distance from the wings back to the rear stabilizer ( ailerons and rudder ) is relatively short... it is an excellent trait for a sport or aerobatic airplane which can help make yaw and pitch changes quicker. This does make them a little more twitchy. The tall relatively narrow body of an Edge makes them excellent for knife edge flight. Here I'm using the term "coupled" as an indication of body length between the wings and stabilizers... there is another term called "coupling" which means another attribute seen during flight.

A F3A pattern plane ( sort of the opposite end of the spectrum ) has a long coupled tail ( more distance between wings and the stabilizer ) that provided a more stable flight that tends to flight straight lines easier and has little to no coupling when pitching, rolling or yawing.

Coupling... is when you give an input in one axis ( roll, pitch or yaw ) and also have movement seen in another axis. For instance... you give input on the rudder ( yaw ) and also see the plane roll or pitch... or give it up/down elevator and it moves in the yaw ( rudder ) axis. All airframes have a little coupling in them... pattern planes have much less.

An example of coupling on the Edge... when you roll ( ailerons ) the plane into knife edge flight it will also have a tendancy to either pull to the landing gear or push towards the cockpit resulting in a slight curve in flight unless you counter it with a little bit of pitch ( elevator ). Note this isn't the same thing as needing a little yaw ( rudder ) to maintain a level flight path which is just making up for the lower amount of lift seen in knife edge flight since the wings aren't providing upward lift any longer.

 

[danhampson]

I've read about pilots using different mixes to counteract coupling issues and setting them to flight condition ie. normal, rollers and knife edge/hammerhead.

So knife edge would have a rudder > elevator mix to counter any pull. I've also seen some that mix in some aileron to counter roll out, I thought that was support to be corrected with aileron differential?

 

[RandyDSok]

Going into knife edge you'd use an aileron->elevator mix to counter the coupling... then use however much rudder to maintain level flight etc.

I seldom make a mix for coupling... I just adjust on the sticks for it. If you are going into competition or just want a little more precision ... you'd want to adjust for it so you could focus on your flight pattern more.

 

[danhampson]

ive tryed both on the sim but found that i would forget to flick the switch on or off lol.

I got to maiden her earlier today, all i can say is wow. its very responsive and has loads of power, I just need to get used to it.

YouTube

I didnt record all the flights there were alot of short flights while i started trying to get the CG sorted out, its still a bit nose heavy at the moment. and the local youth football (soccer) teams were starting to arrive of sunday practice. Im hoping to start to get her trimmed out over the next week.

 

[Graham Lawrie]

Nice one Dan

 

[RandyDSok]

I've always enjoyed my flights with the little Edge... 3D Hobby Shop really did it right.