Edge540 Review


Home Application To Join Contact Us Learn To Fly Directions Newsletter Officers Members Events Sponsors Donation Rules Hangar Our Hot links	Edge 540T Review By Steve Schlesselman
		SPECIFICATIONS Wing Span 60" Wing Area 693 Sq. In. Length 55" Weight 5.5 to 6 pounds Engine .46 to .61 Glow up to a 1.25 Radio 4 Channels minimum Used in this plane was a saito FA-100 60 oz servos in the wing,and elevator.hitec with an 80 oz sevo for the rudder pull, pull system. Throttle used a hitec standard. Pros: Great building ARF with pride in workmanship. Great covering with ultra coat. Great support if needed onlineor phone. Cons: Screws stripped on occasion, tight fitting canopy.

	What's in the box? Click to enlarge.
			When I first opened the box I could not believe what I saw. It was perfect. After having ironed out what few wrinkles there were I was ready to start building. All pieces were in plastic and wrapped to perfection. Aero works takes pride in their product. The instruction book has more detail than I have ever seen which made it real easy to follow along and put together.

			I assembled the the hinges on the ailerons which were already in place just needed some pins and glue to finish that up. I installed the servos, holes already cut out for you just drill, harden the holes with some ca and install. I then put the wing halves together per instructions with no dihedral at all. Great fit on the halves. With servos in and wings together I moved on to the next step.

			I did have a little trouble with the wing hold downs lining up but was quickly resolved. Next was to install the stab and elevator. These pieces already had covering removed were the epoxy was to go so that made it easy. Measuring from wing corner to stab corner for the correct distance and true before the epoxy went on was also easy as this was very straight to put together. Cut out servo opening for the elevator and again drilled holes for the servo, a little ca and install. 18 inch servo extension used here to get up to the front of the plane.The elevator went in straight as the rest of the pieces.

			Installed the rudder and tail wheel assembly. The rudder is a pull, pull system which went together nicely. I just had to figure out the tension used so as not to make the servo chatter. Works great. The tail wheel is good hardware with a spring system that turns with the rudder. I beefed up the landing gear area to maximum strength and then installed the landing gear but the screws that came with the kit stripped so I replaced them.



			Installation of the motor that I wanted was not easy but modification of the mounts that came predrilled to the firewall on one side was done. I used 3 of their mounting holes in the firewall, but to get the distance I needed for the cowl away from the firewall I had to inset one mounting hole and then had to modify the firewall so the throttle would turn freely. The exhaust was going to run by just cutting the cowl and dropping the muffler outside just a few inches. The manual calls for it to stay in the cowl and exhaust out the backside but I did not want to modify the whole exhaust which saito does have but very pricey. I used a saito 100 for the power plant I am not that good at cutting cowls but the kit comes with a dummy clear cowl but I could not use it because the saito 100 fits outside the cowl some so I had a couple of hours of cutting, trial and error. Everything went together nicely in the end. APC prop 14 x 6 or 14 x 8 to start with.

			To finish things up I put the battery all the way up front with a hitec mini receiver to save room and then tied all the wires up nice and neat. I was worried the pull pull rudder servo would snag a few wires. Ran the antenna wire out the tube provided and wrapped the rest with the included hitcec antenna wrap so only a small amount hangs out the back end. Put a switch under the wing on the right side invisible when the wing is on but accessible. The canopy required some sanding and fitting to get the holes to line up and not be so tight. Was not happy about that. Real tight fit till sanded. I set the throws as I was building but I did a double check and everything still was in good shape. Set the expo to 40 percent to start. The CG was about a quarter inch off so I added some weight up front to balance the plane. All in all this plane went together smooth and really easy. One of the best ARF's I have ever bought. Just the little things aero works does make it a quality kit, like no other I have put together. The only bad thing I can say is the screws that came with it stripped rather easy, and the canopy tight fit. Other than that a great deal with good hardware that is more than usable.


		Overall	Finally got to fly the edge and I really loved it. So responsive. It goes where you point it. Very sensitive on the ailerons. Used 65 percent expo to relieve that. Flying with saito 100 so it has more than enough power to satisfy. Needed 4 clicks of up elevator to keep it up level. I landed pretty fast but can slow down on a long approach. Overall smooth sailing. Very nice plane.