citation X

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I just purchased a Aero Works "KIT" 33% Edge 540T? Any one have any ideas, mod's or suggestions when building this kit! I'm thinking about putting a BME 110 Extreme @ 3.8 Lbs. How does this kit balance out with a standard weight DA or 3W 100? Thanks for your help! Ricky

Hammbone

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These planes tend to come out a little tail heavy.
I had to add nose weight to mine even though I used the heavier DA 100 engine.

Jim

eagle4442

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Ricky,

A friend of mine built the 2 aileron servo version powered with a DA100. All the servos are mounted in the back. The plane was just a little tail heavy for his IMAC flying. I fly mostly 3D and thought the plane needed to be more tail heavy. This is a great combo. for both precision flying and 3D. Make sure you increase the size of the ailerons over the plans. If you install a light weight motor you will have to mount the rudder servos up front in the fuse.

citation X

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Hammbone/eagle4442 - Thanks for your input, I am going to lengthen the ailerons for sure and my kit includes the dual aileron servo option as well. If I go with the BME 110 extreme at 3.8 Lbs I will defiantly go with the SWB anodized 2 servo tray with the built in bell crank up in the fuse. How did ya'll secure the wing to the fuse, As per plan? I would like to do some sort of quick wing retention set-up. Any thoughts on that? Thanks again, Ricky

ml3456

Citation,

I am building a 29% Edge now, and one thing I wish I had was the foam pieces that AW cuts out for the wing tube and servos. They cut a HUGE hole in the foam to cut the wing tube, which leaves a large area of the balsa unsupported. Also, I bag my wings, and it will crush this area. If you haven't bought it yet, see if Marco can ship the wing and stabs with the wing and stab foam cut outs.

Mark

citation X

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ML3456 - Unfortunately I have already purchased the airplane from an individual "NIB". I have a 29% AW Edge 540 but bought it RTF, So I'm not sure if he mod'ed that part or not. I will defiantly take that into consideration when building it. Thanks for your input. Ricky

eagle4442

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Ricky,

You glue in the wing and stab sockets before you sheet the wings. I used the slot to run the epoxy in while turning the socket, this gets epoxy all the way around. I use ProBond to sheet the wings. I install a 1/4" plate in the root of the wing with a 10x32 thread insert, some people install a large dowel. I do this after I have sheeted the wings and checked the wings fit to the fuse. The wings are held in place with a 10x32 socket head screw from inside the fuse.

Wings-RCU

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Try This. Works great & will stand up to anything you can dish out.

citation X

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Wings - Who built that airplane? That looks like one heck of a job, very nice. That looks like a great way to secure your wing to the fuse, at what point did you install the hard point in the wing for the retention set-up? What engine are you using? Dual servo's in the aileron's? Did you have to add any weight to balance it out? If you have any other photo's of your airplane, I would love to see how you set things up!E-mail me directly @ [email protected] Thanks for your help. Ricky

OnTheEdge

Hi Ricky, I just built this plane (kit) last winter (see photo gallery).

There is a very good review of the ARF version of this plane in the "reviews" section of this site by Robert Keahey. There is a very easy mod for a wing attachment method that I followed and it works very well.

http://www.rrcc.org


Replace the wing root with light ply, the original balsa will get bashed up too easy plus this is a part that secures part of the wing tube phenolic. Just put a ton of lightening holes in it keep the weight close.

As Jim mentioned above, this plane comes out heavy in the tail area (it was origianlly designed around a 3W80 twin). If you get a BME110 (whenever they hit the street) you'll have to add back a few pounds of lead to get it back to the weight of the DA or 3W in the first place. I had to go to a pull-pull rudder with a 3w100 to balance mine. Anything you could do to shead tail weight will help.

Do you plan to run cannister or standard mufflers?


Best of luck.............Mark

citation X

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Mark - Thanks for the good gouge about the edge. I am planning on running standard mufflers, I have someone possible wanting to do some trading for an airplane I have for a NIB-BME 102. Do you happen to know what kind of H.P./weight the standard BME 102 has? It's not the evo version. I want it to rocket out of a hover, is this the motor for me or should I stick with the DA-100 and not have to worry as much on the weight and balance! I hope to have a finished weight of less than 24 Lbs. I'm hoping 22-23 with CF tube,gear,tail wheel assy,duralites and tons of lighting holes. Thanks for all your help. Ricky

eagle4442

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Ricky,

A friend is building the Aeroworks 540 now. It is replacing a AW 540T he crashed. That plane weighed 26lbs with a 3W-80 for power. He is going to power the new plane with a 3W-106QS. He is trying to get the finished weight of this plane to 24lbs. He replaced most of the sheeting wood with contest balsa. Removed about 1/3 of a pound from the fuse. He is going to use only 1 servo in each aileron. He has a carbon fiber spinner, wing tube, and landing gear. The tail wheel is the one Chip Hyde used on his TOC plane( it weighs less then carbon fiber ). From what we can tell so far the plane should come in at 24lbs or even a little under.
The 3W-106QS is 3/4lb. lighter then the 3W-80. The BME 102 is about a pound lighter then the 3W-106QS. If you do all the weight savings my friend did you should have about a pound lighter plane. I can send you some pictures of his plane if you want.
Tim

Wings-RCU

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CitationX, That wing is from a 29% AW EDGE. I installed a threaded dowel before I sheeted the wing. The 1/4 x 20 nylon thumb bolt tightens against the wing tube doublers. Do not put the bolt(s) directly against the light ply sides. I have seen several people do this only to end up with budging fuse sides.

All of AW kit versions of their planes are made with contest grade balsa, and come out at least a pound or two lighter then the ARF versions according to Roco. There is also several ways to keep the kit version even lighter. If you got the time and really want a light Edge, their kit is the way to go. You won't be sorry. The contest grade balsa is why their kits are as expensive as their ARF's.

Just don't do like I did and cover you’re plane in a scale scheme.
AW went and did the same covering job on their 31% ARF two years latter. Guess I'm going to recover now.

I don't think you will have ANY trouble hitting 22# with the BME and all the carbon stuff. Another hint in reducing weight is to use a very, very thin layer of polyurethane for sheeting, this stuff expands quite a bit when curing so you can cut 5 or 6 oz. of excess weight when sheeting with epoxy.

eagle4442

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Wings,

Between my friend and myself we have built 5 AW kits. Neither of us think the wood in the kit is contest grade balsa, no matter what Roco says. I have owned 4 ARF's and can tell you the wood in them is the heaviest I've seen. If you would receive it in a kit you would ask for your money back. So if Roco is using the ARF wood to compare against the kit wood it's not fair. The wood selection in the AW kits is good but not contest grade. The reason AW kits are expensive is their plane won the TOC and they jacked their kit prices up a $100.00 right after that.

Wings-RCU

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Eagle,
My kit sure appeared to have contest grade balsa. Aeroworks advertises their 540's (Kits) as having contest grade balsa. (Check their web site.) Obviously you believe they are pulling our leg and breaking the law if they are included something else.

Yes Aeroworks kit prices did go up after a few TOC's. They had trouble keeping up with orders for a period of time. My point was that their kit prices are awfully expensive as compared to their ARF's. In fact, up until a year ago they would sell you a partially assembled Kit (sheeted wings, framed fuse,) that was several hundred more expensive than their ARF's. My only explanation was the material cost.

eagle4442

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Wings,
All I can tell you is that my friend ordered contest balsa and it was substantially lighter that what was in the kit. I have ordered contest balsa also and it was also lighter than the kit wood. Maybe we are getting the light end of the contest grade and AW is at the heavy end. I'm just basing my opinion on the 5 kits we have built and the fact that the contest balsa we order is lighter.
I'm not bad mouthing AW kits, one of my best flying planes is my AW 540T. I'm just saying that if you are trying to build the lightest plane possible the sheeting is a place where you can save weight.

EJB

I have built 6 AW kit's.Building an AW Sukhoi right now.The balsa is close to contest grade & some of it actually is..The balsa that comes with the kits is not ALWAYS contest grade balsa.Fact is, the selection is inconsistent.Most of the wood is fairly light & some of it is contest grade & some of it you could use for framing a house.The wood varies from kit to kit.
An AW 33% Edge at 22lb?......wishfull thinking.And I don't care if everything is carbon & all the wood is contest. If you wind up at 24lb.that's great.The examples of this plane that I have seen were said to be "around 25 lb." After weighing them they were actually 29lb....but hey, they still are great flying planes.

citation X

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Hey guy's- I really appreciate all the good info you all have given me on the Edge 540T kit, keep it coming. Ricky

BBW Walt

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EJB has pretty well hit the number with the contest balsa issue. Im building a plane that has been mentioned in this thread which all the sheeting on the tail, turtle deck, front hatch and 1/4 of the wing sheeting has been replaced. If you purchase designated "CONTEST" AAA you will see the difference. I actually took 3-4 oz's off the stabs alone by replacing the wood. To build a 24lb Aeroworks 33-36% 540 is not an easy thing to do nor cheap. This is my 4th Aeroworks kit and inconsistant wood grade has been the norm. My plane right now completely framed on its wheels with engine is at 17-18lbs. No electrics,fuel system, ignition, muffs. My goal is 24lbs. Its going to be close. Good luck, PS, if you want to rocket" out of a hover the 3W-DA would be my choice...

Diablo-RCU

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Say Walt:
I'll see ya at the field with my scale....

That would be a heck of a good job to get the plane that light. Shoot, my 29 lb Edge is pretty light, if you compare it to a 31 lb Carden Cap....

BBW Walt

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Hey Diablo, I think its going to be close. There's 2 scales waiting for the results.. :spinnyeye

Wings-RCU

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Gadzooks.... we are talking a 33% airplane here, with a BME 100. Are they really coming out that heavy? 29-30lbs? The Average 40% TOC plane 2002 with 120”+ wings were 32-36 lbs. AW 29% has been coming out @14.5 lbs. What the heck happened to their 33%? I guess they really have been putting 2 X 4's in the kits. That's at least 4 lbs heaver then the top weight listed by Aeroworks

OnTheEdge

Actually 37.62380952 on average. (I got home a little early from work and had some free time on my hands )

Wings-RCU

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OntheEdge, I bet that average includes several over 40% planes like Goldsmith's 46% CAP & Chips 4 cylinder Ultimate.

I still think 29lbs "if your lucky" for a 33% AW Edge seems kinda HEAVY.

OnTheEdge

I got all the figures for all the planes from the latest edition of Model Aviation (Very good, thorough article by Mike Hurley). And yes, Chip and Peter's planes were some of the heavier ones (you'd never know if for the way they flew).