joco1

i maidened my 47 edge 540 this afternoon and it was terrible nose heavy, i mean if i let off the elevator it would drop like a rock nose first i have a 55ax mounted on the front also i have my battery in my left wing but i had to still trim it out all the way to the right on the aileron to fly level and im still not real sure if its flying level because i was fighting it so much with the nose diving, this is my first profile plane and i was very lucky not to lose it tonight anything i might be missing here? i just went and took the engine off the front and i have no room at all to slide the engine back unless i dremel a little off the fuse but i dont want to do that to my new plane ..why would it be so nose heavy i can add about 7 of the small weights and it seems to level it out a little but that seems like alot of weight any suggestions ? i was so excited about flying this plane and now im scared to death im gonna ruin it!!

AFSalmon

My Feedback: (3)

It is hard to answer without seeing your plane but it would be extremely unusual to have a profile Edge be that much nose heavy. What is the static balance point or in other words where does it balance now sitting on the ground? One thing to remember is that most profiles and 3d planes have huge control surfaces and you need to make sure they are aligned properly at neutral. If your ailerons are not centered you could be causing a roll moment. Check your lateral balance as well and make sure that is not off. There should no reason to add weight to the Edge V3. We've outfitted these with engines ranging from an OS LA 40 all the way up to a Saito 82 and never added any extra weight. Moving the battery and engine have been enough.

joco1

ive tried the cg machine upside down at 4.5 and also my fingertips at 4.5 at it was terrible nose heavy i found that my elevator was down just a little so i adjusted them back up level and the ailerons might have been off just a very little bit so i leveled them i didnt have to adjust the elevator much at all so i dont really think that will help my nose heavy problem but hopefully im wrong! im gonna go over it all again tonight .i surely must just be missing something ,but it sure did drop like a rock last night!!!

Ernie Misner

With the large control surfaces, having the elevator down a little sure could cause the nose heavy feeling. Next time get a lot of altitude, 3 mistakes high or so right off the bat, and roll over inverted. See if it takes any downward pressure to keep the nose up. Chances are it won't take much pressure, if any, and you'll find that just centering the elevator nicely will correct the rightside up situation as well.

Also, while flying at altitude adjust the trims so it will fly flat and straight at about 1/2 throttle, land and look at the way the stab and ailerons look. Let us know.

Ernie

joco1

the ailerons feel a bit loose you can move them up and down freely with your finger say about a good half inch or so ....it feels like alot of (for lack of a better term) "sloppy" should i tighten that up or is this normal for a profile?

Ernie Misner

No, no, no, you do not want any slop ideally. There is a learning curve to this so be patient.

Make sure the clevis pins fit tight in the holes in the horns. Use the OUTTER most holes you can on each end and still get the throw you need. Adjust your radio and linkages so you are using most all of the servo travel, not just a small part.

With that much slop you are inviting flutter and that will definitely cost you a plane. With each plane work on getting better at all of this.

Ernie

joco1

thank you very much for your help i need all i can get !

Ernie Misner

A good trick is to get a set of Du Bro large servo arms for your aileron servos. (you won't be using the real big ones that come with the package, but use some that are slightly larger than your stock arms)

Then you can use the outermost hole in your control horns on the ailerons..... bye, bye slop! You still want to make sure the clevis's fit snug in the holes. This way about the only slop you will feel is in the servo itself if you are using standard servos.

If you haven't been flying a lot previously, you should fly on very low rates for a while. No hurry at all.

Ernie

joco1

i put the new arms on but i think i found why its so loose when i was installing the control horns on my surface one of the outer holes was not all the way open (it was filled in) so i drilled it out with a small bit and went ahead and drilled both horns in the outer holes so i decided to put them in the inner holes and now there is no slop (live and learn i guess) but is it ok to leave it in the inner holes or i guess i should ask how can i expect it to fly with it in those holes

joco1

ok i think im getting close but im still having a little trouble ! i got the nose heavy problem takin care of ,in fact i had to add a little down to it, it was wanting to climb too much so that was a elevator problem but now in order to fly level as your facing the plane the aileron on the right has to be down a little and the one on the left (engine side ) has to be up. so what do you think my problem is now? its sure is a fun plane to fly but i hope i didnt screw something up on the build

Ernie Misner

When using the outermost holes, you still must use whatever holes gives you the amount of deflection that you are looking for. Just make an effort not to use inner holes on both as that maximizes the slop. Sounds like you are getting the idea pretty good.

As for your balance, trim it for level flight then roll over inverted. If it takes a lot of foreward pressure on the stick to keep the nose up while inverted, then you are still too nose-heavy.

About the aileron trim, try balancing your plane laterally and then see if the ailerons don't center better for level flight. Use a tiny eye bolt in the fuselage and hang the plane carefully from a string to check lateral balance. You might have to add weight to (usually) the left wingtip.

Ernie

joco1

and one more thing i have noticed, is the wooden dowels on the back of the wings are visible where they go thru the fuselodge and i cant get them tight by tightening the wing bolt should i put some ca on them or what other methods could i use to tighten them up? im gonna get this plane right if its the last thing i do!!!

AFSalmon

My Feedback: (3)

Hey Ernie thanks for all the great advice here! Some great advice there Joco! Another way to check lateral balance is to trim the plan for leverl flight and roll inverted. Assuming you already have your longitudinal CG in check, now you can check for a wing drop. If a wing drops then that side is heavy. Generally on profiles you put the battery in the left wing to offset the engine hanging out on the right side. Rarely do you need to add any weight.

Don't worry about the wood anti-rotation pin unless you are talking about a huge gap. If you don't plan on taking the plane apart you can always glue the wings onto the fuse or just glue the wings to the anti-rotation pins.