dork_blaster

My Feedback: (14)

Couldn't pass on their Thanksgiving sale, so I ordered one of these. Anyone built/have one? Weight, CG, etc.,... The sound police are pretty active at our site, so I'm using a ZDZ160 into some JMB canisters and from the looks of it, I will need to do some modifications to the fuse for this to happen.

Hoping everyone has a nice Christmas and Holidays!

DB

Geistware

My Feedback: (16)

If I was a builder I would get a couple of their specials as well!

cygnet

My Feedback: (33)

I have built the 40% Staudacher came in at 35lbs and is a great flyier. I also used a ZDZ160 on tuned cans took a little thought but the install went quite well, outstanding performance.

dork_blaster

My Feedback: (14)

Gosh darn, the Staudacher would've been my first choice because:

1) Uniqueness, not too many of that type around my parts (there are ZILLIONS of Extras, followed by Caps and Edges)
2) It was cheaper (God knows how much I like bargains!)

BUT... it didn't look like (from the pictures) that cans could be installed easily[:@]

So that's why I settled on the Edge, and I know that cans have been installed in planes of this type (if the dimensions are even close to the Carden kit).

I'm not getting too many bites on this post, stay tuned for more. I will post pix and reports on progress as I have time. I just placed the order this morning, maybe if I call in and change it to the Staudacher.... don't get me going! Am I talking to myself here? Don't answer that! Time for my meds, I guess...

Cheers!

DB

cygnet

My Feedback: (33)

If you go with the staudacher I will get a digital camera and show you the install on the pipes it is not hard and works like a charm. You will enjoy the staudacher does knife edge with no coupling hence no mixing.

dork_blaster

My Feedback: (14)

Thanks for the offer on the pictures, Cygnet. The Edge was delivered to my place of business in two big boxes Friday morning, I placed the order the previous Monday. Sale price of the kit was $549 + $86 shipping.

I inspected the contents that evening and everything is in good condition with the exception of a few nicked up ply parts: some came off the sheet and were loose in the box. I spent the rest of the weekend clearing my workspace and reading the instructions, and inspecting the parts.

Findings so far:
Looks like cans can go in without too much trouble, though I won't be able to use the stock headers that I bought for the ZDZ without some metal working.

Considering mods for plug-in stabs.

The Hitec 5735's (rudder servos, X2) are too big to fit in the stock location. Might go to floating bellcrank or bite the bullet and switch to 4 5945s.

Wish there was an option for full sized plans, the smaller plans included are helpful, but nothing beats full size for laying out components.

The fiberglass parts seem to be of good quality, no noticeable pin holes or warpage, but they will require some minor sanding.

Canopy is also of good quality and not too thin. Only wish it had cutting guides.

Quality of the ply is EXCELLENT, balsa is good - don't think it's contest grade.


The adventure begins! More to come if anyone cares.

DB

giantscalejim

My Feedback: (50)

Keep us informed of the progress, pictures if possible.

Jim

Whymee

My Feedback: (13)

I built a Lanier 40% Edge last winter. I tell you it is the most stable plane I have ever flown. (I am am sport flier) AUW is around 42#. A bit of a porker but its going on a LiPo & Carbon diet this winter.

I too have the ZDZ 160 Champion. The jury is still out on this motor, as I do not think I am getting the RPM's that I should. Made my own exhaust. 2 into 1 into 2. I loose about 300 rpm over open exhaust.

I would be REAL interested in seeing your can setup. I had thought about retrofitting my fuse. I am using 5735's (2) mounted in the tail in place of the 4 std. servos. After my plane goes on its diet, I figure I will have to go the bellcrank / pull pull route. I am already around 1.5-2.0" behind CG & with the diet (its all ahead of CG) I will have to remove tail weight somehow.

Right now I have 2- 4000 nmih 5 cell battery packs feeding 2 busses. 1 buss feeds the ailerons & the other feeds the tail. Both feed the single rx. 4 cell 2600 nmih for ignition.

Looking for carbon gear to loose some weight but nobody makes a set for our plane.

One modification I did was to add to the bottom of the fuse next to the cowl to improve the looks. The cowl hung down 1.5" or so lower than the fuse. I thought that was ugly.

Good luck on the build. Iffin ya need any pics or have any questions, feel free to contact me.

Btw, wait till ya price out a 6" TT Ultimate spinner.... I bout had a heart attack....lol

Happy Holidays

Stan
304-265-0670

dork_blaster

My Feedback: (14)

Thanks for the input Whymee. 42lbs, you're right, oink! Good to hear that it flies well.

I will consider putting mine on the same diet as you suggest (Li, CF gear, maybe CF spinner). I have some CF gear for a 40% Carden Cap I believe can be modified for this plane, it weighs 13 oz (versus the 1 lb 7 oz stock aluminum). That and the LiPos will allow me to break even (the cans will add over a pound to the AUW over the in-cowl system).

I'm also considering reducing the number of aileron servos, since the Hitecs I'm using have enough torque - but do you think the ailerons are stiff enough to allow 2 servos per surface? This will save me 4 ozs, but is it worth it?


Cheers!

DB

Whymee

My Feedback: (13)

I do believe that their stiff enough. I considered that exact mod. In the end it was " what the he*l, I already have a ton of $$ in it, what is another $150.00! I used that theory for several things. Choke servo, throttle servo (all digital) come to mind.

Where are you at in the bulding process? Let me know about the gear, as I prolly will modify somebody's 40% gear, might as well be a Carden...lol

Cheers

Stan

dork_blaster

My Feedback: (14)

I'm still in the planning stages. I've read the manual several times over, reviewed the plans, etc.,...

Once I'm 95% sure of the mods, I will start squeezing glue (should be sometime this week). I also dusted off and tested my vacuum bagging stuff, and found that I have a leak somewhere, another delay - but better now than later when it would've been a bigger headache!

I might order some contest grade balsa to sheet the wings and tail surfaces if it means saving a few ozs. Anyone think otherwise?

Later!

DB

ps - please be patient with my progress guys, last time I sprinted, this time I'm slowing it down a bit.

Whymee

My Feedback: (13)

I agree with the contest balsa. My wings weigh a ton. Wish I would have gone that route.

Take your time with the building process. You will be rewarded in the end.

I wish I had a bagger. Dear Santa....


Happy Holidays

Stan

cygnet

My Feedback: (33)

By all means get the contest grade balsa and while your at it honey comb the wings that's what I did on my staudacher and I have got it down to 35 lbs. Only use one servo per elevator half if it is 160oz ie 8411 or I use the 358 airtronics 200 oz at 6 volts. I also drilled holes in my fuse formers and deck formers. I used the ZDZ 160 but if you use a 3w or DA you will at least 2lbs heaver.

dork_blaster

My Feedback: (14)

The saga begins...

Kit came in two big boxes, everything was packed well, but there were still a few loose laser and CNC cut parts.

Manual has some typos, quality of the balsa and ply supplied are excellent. The kit contains CNC and laser cut parts, fiberglass cowl and pants (no pinholes evident, some minor flashing, decent quality), aluminum main gear, aluminum wing tube. I will weigh the stock sheeting to see if contest grade stuff will make a difference.

Foam cores (wings, stabs and rudder) are "clean" (no spider webs as would be found on cores of lesser workmanship).

First I had to make sure the canisters would fit. Picture shows that it is possible, but some mods have to be made to the engine box and gear mounting area.

There were 2 missing fuse formers (F5 and F6), see the second picture - prevents me from continuing on the fuse. I'm calling Lanier in the morning - let's see how their service is.

Meanwhile I'm planning on using 2 Hitec 5735s for the rudder in the stock location. I was worried they would be too big, but they will work if I move them forward slightly.

The F2 former had an interference issue with the 1/4" hardwood sticks that reinforces the fuse sides. A 1/4" notch had to be cut at the upper right and left of F2 for proper fit (hard to see, but there in 3rd pic).

More to come!

dork_blaster

My Feedback: (14)

If anyone still cares, here's an update:

What's done: fuse, tail group with plug-in stab modification (WARNING this VOIDs the warranty, not recommended unless you've done this before), hatch, canopy deck, cowl, engine mounting, cooling tunnel for cans (see pix below), CF prop, CF spinner, and CF gear fitted. Haigh type tail gear fitted (might switch to CF, but the Haigh sure looks cool).

Still to go: sheeting wings, misc. hardware, radio, canopy cutting, covering, painting and graphics...

Found one bad mistake in the manual regarding trimming the cowl. Good thing I read through it first! The manual gives instructions (pg 29) on how to trim the motor box sides to fit your motor by measuring the length of the cowl and then subtracting the length of the motor from the backplate to the firewall. Here's the mistake: on pg 32 the manual tells you to trim the cowl to 15 1/4"!!! I had to cut almost 3/4" off to make that length and if I had cut the box per pg 29, I'd have a 3/4" gap between my spinner and the cowl! READ THE MANUAL FIRST AND TEST FIT, TEST FIT, TEST FIT!!

Other minor things about the kit: The tabs on one of the hatch formers were too big for the mating cutouts in the top fuse, nothing a razor saw couldn't make right.

Lanier service: they shipped the missing pieces immediately after my call into them, no charge. Their website says they will do this only once, free of charge, so make sure you take inventory of the rest of the pieces.

I weighed the fuse with the engine, gear and mufflers mounted. Came in at 19 lbs, 4 ozs on my digital fish scale. Can't believe that the wheels, radio, servos, tail group and wings weigh another 20... but then again.

Cheers!

db

ps - please don't tease me about my messy garage, I get enough of that from my wife! [&o]

Whymee

My Feedback: (13)

I am certainly interested in your build, even though mine is already built. Looks good so far!!

What CF gear did you use? Where did you get it? Part #? Does it have stock dimensions or did you modify another gear to fit. All the gear I have found is wider at the mounting area of the fuse.

Regards

Stan

dork_blaster

My Feedback: (14)

Thanks, Whymee.

I had some old Graph Tech gear for a 40% Carden Cap 232 laying around (no. 171). It is the right height, but it is not wide enough. You have to cut it in half (as their website suggests). I'm a little worried about the stories of these puppies delaminating (especially the older ones like I have). I heard he's using a new layup using a 3D Kevlar weave which supposedly solves this problem.

He lists gear for the 40% Carden Edge (no. 174), I have to believe it'll work on the Lanier. Either way, it's a 10oz weight savings if you go with CF gear.

I epoxied some 1/4" birch ply behind the aluminum L-brackets to take 10-32 blind nuts to facilitate easier gear removal, wasn't sure how I'd get my big mitts into the frame to tighten nylon lock nuts once the plane is covered.

Cheers!

db

dork_blaster

My Feedback: (14)

If you're vacuum bagging the wings and stab, I strongly suggest NOT using the method described in the manual for creating the servo lead tunnels. Since the "tunnel" is really a trench on the surface of the foam, the suction caves in the sheeting, forming a nasty dimple. Found out the hard way doing the stabs. Since the tunnels in the stab were fairly short, I was able to salvage the stabs using a bit of filler.

I didn't want to repeat this on the wings. So after some thought, I decided to try cutting the servo tunnel with a home made cutter using my trusty soldering gun. I used coat hanger wire bent into a circle for the element and used a length of 1/8" ply as a guide/straight edge. It worked out quite well. I used 5/8" clear plastic tubes from the local hardware shop to line the tunnels, although I believe this is optional, I didn't want to take the chance of making another dimple.

Other "dimple" locations: Back up the wing tube cut outs in the foam or they will cave in slightly as well!

More to come! Going skiing next week - brain needs a break.

dork_blaster

My Feedback: (14)

What's been happening:

Skiing and snow boarding was fun until my daughter busted her ankle... thank God for the ski patrol.

Just got set up with a Duralite Li-ion battery system: 2x 4000mAh feeding their Powerbox 40/24 for the single RX and servos, and a 1900mAh + reg for ignition. Jack Price is a real nice person to deal with (patient on the phone and prompt with email replies).

Ordered some paint from Nelson Hobbies (another nice fellow, Jerry Nelson is), doing it in Insignia blue, jet white, with some yellow thrown in - similar to the IAC team plane on their website (except for the yellow). First time using water soluble epoxy paint, Jerry had some pointers, but if any of you have additional info on it I'd like to hear from you before I fire up the compressor.

Starting to design some custom graphics, but I'm not sure if I'm going to go that route just yet.
Update: turns out the color scheme I chose (maybe subconsciously?) is EXACTLY the same used by Kirby Chamblis, the Zivko Edge 540 test pilot. Diehard Graphics makes a decal package for $175 that matches Kirby's full scale version. I also have an RFQ into a couple other places for the same thing.

Using a single 40% figure from Litepilots.com, even though this is a 2 seater - didn't want to add another 5oz.

What's left to do:

Baffle the cowl, final trim on the canopy, figure out where to put the smoke system and tank, mount the radio and battery system after fine tuning the CG, cover and paint.

Just weighed everything, and I'm REAL happy - 37.6 lbs before covering and paint! All the efforts to save weight really paid off (CF spinner and gear, good balsa, Li-ion batts, light pilot figure).

Almost there!

DB

JackL

My Feedback: (7)

DB, how is the Edge coming along? Has it flown? I am thinking about getting a Lanier 40% Edge, as Lanier has them on their site for $549 + FREE shipping. Sounds almost too good to pass up.

Jack

dork_blaster

My Feedback: (14)

Howdy all!

It hasn't flown yet []... suffering from that dreaded "lack of time + mile long honey do list" syndrome... also, I still need to report into work once in a while!

Wings are covered, tail group covered, waiting for some paint from Nelson's Hobby. Still need to cover the fuse, and paint the cowl, canopy and pants. ALL the radio gear has been setup and tested (include servo linkages and synchronizing them with my trusty Hitec servo programmer).

Jack - saw the sale, I'm going to wait until I fly mine before I buy another. You're absolutely spot on about the sale price (I paid the same, but sadly shipping wasn't free!).

More to come!

DB

dork_blaster

My Feedback: (14)

Well, it finally flew a couple flights... wasn't very happy, but it could've been worse. Had some minor problems like:

CG was a little aft of recommended by about 1.5", needed to add some nose weight (probably switch to a aluminum spinner). All the trouble I went into to save weight produced a slightly tail heavy bird.

Throws were WAAAAAAAYYYYYY too much, backed off by about 30% of max throws after first flight, was still a bit touchy on second flight, mayhaps due to the aft CG. Did some rolling and knife edge circles, point rolls, just taking it easy.

Plenty of power, even with engine not broken in. Climbs and can accelerate in vertical flight. Didn't do this too much as the cowl isn't baffled yet and the engine is still pretty virgin.

Engine wouldn't idle down enough for a slow landing so had to kill the engine just before touch down... low end needs adjustment.


More to come as time and my pending divorce allows... I hope to keep most of the planes.

DB

Flyfalcons

Great looking plane DB, hope everything works out okay.

dork_blaster

My Feedback: (14)

Wow - four years ago I started this thread! And it's on sale again at Tower for $499 plus shipping! Just ordered another.

mrbigg

My Feedback: (21)

What did the first one weigh after covering and paint?