Wild Hare 88" Edge 540 Build

[pipercub123]

After two crashes on my Air Wild 260, I figured it was time to start this season with a fresh plane as I didn't feel like repairing. I was lucky enough to have fixed it after the first deadstick and after having another with similar damage, I began to think the plane was a bit weak or required delicate landings to put it nicely. It was a wonderful flyer though.

I'm hoping the Edge will be an even better flyer and will require no mixing. I have never experimented with mixing and only have a slight idea on how to setup the radio for it. I'll have to break out the manual if this one will need it. I've always been the type to use the elevator or ailerons with the rudder for knife edge. However, I'm thinking of working on IMAC more and having the mixing while performing loops will be great to help keep things more precise.

Also, the Edge will be my first plane with a canister muffler in hopes to keep things as quiet as possible. I'm trying the new lower priced canister kit that Tom has for 50cc engines. It was $169 and a total kit! I haven't seen a picture of it yet and will post when everything comes. The 260 didn't have a pipe tunnel in it, another big reason for buying the Edge.

The Edge cowl uses a mounting ring, this I hope will be a plus over the 260 and is something new I haven't tried before.

Another gripe with the 260 I had was that the elevator servos were mounted in the fuselage and not in the stab, same thing with the Edge. I guess I'll just have to deal with this. For ease of transport it'd be a bit easier to not have to remove a link. The EF Extra incorporates this however, but lacks the cowl ring.

I'm considering painting the LG as IMO I don't like the look of bare metal, even polished on a LG. Guys, painted gear would've been a nice touch!

I don't know if I'll be using the included tail gear as I have a more scale looking gear that I never used on the 260. Also used from the 260 will be the 4" spinner. The Edge calls for a 3.5" spinner, but for me my old one is good. I may run it without a spinner to save 5 oz as the canister will be adding to weight.

After repairs my 260 was 16.5 pounds on my fairly close bathroom scale. The Edge has more wing area and should fly lighter anyway, but I'd like to stay at 16.5 or below as I loved the vertical performance of the 260. I ran a TBM 24x8 prop on the 260 for the best vertical performance. I didn't spend a lot in props to experiment, but this prop loaded the engine enough to keep things somewhat quiet without going more in pitch on a smaller prop. This time I'm trying carbon fiber and will be using a 23x8 Mejzlik in hopes to lower noise while having a good 3D prop.

Here's the goodie list, most things are being transferred over from the 260 as it only had about 8 gallons through it and still in good shape:

• Hitec TG 7955's will be used all around and are overkill. I didn't have enough servo power on the 260 and my goal is to be doing knife edge loops and they'll do the job. I picked these up from TBM at a great price I couldn't refuse. I do plan on going bigger next year so these will be transfered over most likely. I do have some damage on a servo lead of one servo. I most likely will put this servo on the elevator and tape the lead in electrical tape as just the insulation appears to be melted away and there's no conductor damage. Somebody being uncareful with a soldering iron nicking wires? I may however call TBM and see how they feel about replacing it. I appreciate getting a good deal on the servos, but I don't really feel like putting up with brand new and damaged at the same time.
• HS BB Standard for throttle
• Old 260 servos arms from Airwild
• Old PPM JR scanselect rx (I'm about to try 2.4Ghz, but on a budget and ppm works for me)
• Old Hobbico high discharge NIMH 2000 mah 4.8 for ign, two for rx at 6.0V (Will be trying ions sometime with failsafe swithches)
• Old MPI (I think) heavy duty switches (3)
• Old Hobbico HD Extensions
• Old BattShare unit for redundancy
• Mejzlik 23x8 carbon prop
• Old Nova 4" spinner
• Economy canister kit
• WH hardware kit
• Old Airwild wing bags (these bags are awesome and super nice)
• Hmm, maybe a pilot figure should be added?
• Old DA50 just back from DA and has yet to be fired
• Tail wheel, can't remember the name
• TBM Carbon Throttle Plate (Hoping this will keep inverted performance consistant)

The plane isn't here yet, expected sometime this week though. I cleared off some of my mess on my bench after sabatoging the 260 parts.

Fromeco Lith Ion 2600 mah packs and mpi regulator/switch combo may be used in near future

Here's some goodie pics.

Stay tuned as a flight report and video will entail the conclusion.

[heligrom]

cant wait to hear/see that build! looking at 50CC aircraft and this is under my list of maybe's.

[maineflyer]

subscribed

[Sewerdude]

subscribed.........keepin a eye on this one

[pipercub123]

No plane yet, but have been looking at pics and info of the real one. Here's some facts off from Wikipedia you guys may find interesting if you haven't seen them.


One thing I found interesting was the power/mass ratio. Using my DA50, I'd have to have a weight of 24 lbs. for it to be close to the full size. WOW! For a scale climb rate, it'd have to be around 1,233 ft./min. I don't ever climb for a minute, but figured in 20 sec. it'd be 411' if staying close to scale. With the power to weight ratio I hope to have, in 20 sec it will be pretty high up!

General characteristics

• Crew: one pilot
• Capacity: one (pilot only)
• Length: 6.27 m (20 ft 7 in)
• Wingspan: 7.42 m (24 ft 4 in)
• Height: 2.87 m (9 ft 5 in)
• Wing area: 9.1 m² (98 ft²)
• Empty weight: 531 kg (1,170 lb)
• Loaded weight: 703 kg (1,550 lb)
• Max takeoff weight: 816 kg (1,800 lb)
• Powerplant: 1× Modified Lycoming AEIO-540 Hartzell composite, 3 blade, 254 kW (340 hp)

Performance

• Maximum speed: 426 km/h (265 mph)
• Rate of climb: 1,189 m/min at 425 m (3,700 ft/min)
• Power/mass: 0.472 hp/kg (0.214 hp/lb)
• Roll rate: 420°/sec

[pipercub123]

Edge 540, #23!

Please note, in my build I will be comparing the Edge to my Airwild 260 and the EF 300 for referance only. I am not trying to bash Airwild or EF. Just trying to be helpful to someone who can't decide between a plane choice and trying to save one from being disappointed over getting one that won't suit your needs. I sure wish I would have started off with a Wild Hare though as I could've saved a lot of money and perhaps a plane that would have survived my deadsticks. The 260 seems more like an IMAC plane to me. Some say it's a bit light for IMAC, but mine handled wind pretty well and the lightness gave it awesome vertical power. I rarely have a flying day without wind and the 260 was just fine. I went for the Edge because of the shipping price of the EF. With the Edge, WH hardware kit, canister kit, and shipping it came to being $10 less than if I would've gone for the EF kit with shipping. For me the canister was a big deal and getting the canister and still saving money was nice. I already had wing bags so I didn't need the bags from the EF. I also like the idea that for $469 plus shipping, I could have a whole new kit if needed. Much cheaper than replacing the EF kit as I'm not sure if EF would offer a kit without hardware or bags. I'm still learning 3D flying so that was a big factor. I feel the WH plane is an awesome deal for the money and having never owned an EF I won't compare the quality between the two. I am pretty picky when it comes to quality and I'd have to say that the quality of the WH is better than the Airwild because of the construction. Not the building skill, but the amount of wood in the WH. Sure the 260 is lighter, but the WH looks to be built to last through some flying. The covering seams are almost the same on both planes. The 260 seams all are super straight, but I had a lot more wrinkles in the 260. One seam on the rudder could've been cut a little straighter as it's noticeably wavy, but by no means is it a big deal. I don't expect perfection out of any ARF, if you want perfection than pay someone to build it for you or do it yourself. Both schemes on the planes seem challenging to cover and I am afraid to see how I'd do covering them, lol. The 260 is easier to repair though as there's less wood to it. Hopefully with the 540 having more wood, it won't be needing any repairs. However, repairing it would be a lot harder.



Back to the plane, it arrived today with some light damage, four broken wing ribs. Very minor damage, but still damage that'll have to be addressed. The damaged ribs were the third and fourth ribs from the root and damage was in the same areas on both panels. Must be the weakest section of the ribs. The boxes weren't beat up at all, I bet something heavy was put on top of my wing box. A big flat box like that just looks like an invitation to stack some boxes on top of it. Coming from TX is a long trip to NY so those boxes have passed through a few hands.

Everything was double boxed and nicely packaged. Shipping was affordable as well. The only thing that isn't here yet is the header. That's on backorder and is due to arrive shortly. In the meantime I'll continue assembly and when the header is here it should go on quickly.

The canister is polished and looks very nice and durable. I only have a bathroom scale or I'd weigh it. It feels light without the feeling of being too light and fragile. I still have no idea who makes it. The canister hardware looks very nice.

Speaking of hardware, the WH hardware kit comes with a 24 oz tank which will be nice to have a bit more fuel on board. My old 20 oz Dubro tank fits nicely beside it, see pics. I plan on having a smoke system in this bird in the future so I might just go ahead and put the two tanks in so when I buy the pump I'll be good to go. Not sure if I will though as the pump will have to wait until the beginning of summer. I had no room in my Airwild 260 for an easy install of a smoke tank, I tried a few tank configurations in that and just had no room for an ample size tank. See the pics, the Edge is a bit wider than the 260 and this leaves perfect room for a nice side by side tank setup.

The Edge's control surfaces on everything are all a good deal larger than the 260 as well. Just look at how much larger the rudder is! This is the biggest differance. Second would be the elevators. I'm hoping the 540 is a 3D beast! With the bigger rudder, knife edge loops should be easier! Also, having some real servo power will help and using not having used the same servos in both planes I can't give a real comparison. All I can say is even with the same servo, the 540 should have more rudder authority and this is a no brainer. I wasn't able to do any popups with the 260, the 540's elevators are big so we'll see. Even the ailerons are bigger! Heck, look at how much longer the plane is. This was a surprise to me as when I checked the measurements on the two, I though they were the same. Wild Hare lists from rudder to spinner tip and Airwild justs lists 78". Hmm, I'm going to measure just to see sometime. I'm not sure if it'll fit in my 6.5' chevy as the 260 was pretty tight. This is good though as I liked the EF for being longer, just now the WH is a bit longer without being quite so much longer. That's just an added bonus!

The wing is much thicker and all surfaces are thicker. The 540 is just a beefy looking plane and it screams 3D when compared to the 260 which says IMAC. The 260 would do some good 3D though, blendars were fantastic. The hinges on the 540 are awesome, a big step up from the CA hinges on the 260. I had my rudder come loose on the 260 from tearing a hinge and had to redo the hinges. That's a bit scary and that was with only a few gallons on it. The 540 hinges allow so much more control surface movement without any binding! Very nice. The only thing that worries me is hinge wear. I've read a few things about the WH 40% hinges getting slop. Is there anything I can do to keep from getting slop in the hinges? Any plastic safe oil I could lube them with? I'm guessing they'll be okay just as is, but wanted to check.

The cowl is very nice! I love the mounting system, super. The cowl is sturdy and built well. My 260 cowl is light and flimsy. Sorry Airwild fans, it's just the truth. I had some cowl issues with the 260 so seeing a beefier cowl is a big welcome. Seem so we're on the fiberglass topic, my wheelpants are very nice as well and seem beefier. I had problems with cracking on my 260 pants, they were pretty light.

I took some pics of the wing tubes of both planes. The 540 tube is much larger and longer. The 540 tube is pretty sharp looking, pun intended. It's chamfered on the edges just a bit more than I'd prefer. I don't want to be getting cut on my wing tube and it is sharp enough to cut or wear a hole through a wing bag. I'm not sure if this was for easier insertion into the wing or what, but it is sharp so be be careful! I'm going to sand mine a bit.

The landing gear on the 540 is a bit thinner and is therefore springier than the 260's. Also no painted gear. I have no place to paint inside the house and with the weather being yucky I'm going to leave it unpainted. It's fine unpainted, just personal preferance. No painting is just one less thing for me to buy and do. The spongier gear is not a drawback however. In fact the 260's gear could be too stiff. I'd prefer to have a spongy gear that relieves some stress than to have one that has no give and transfers all stress to the fuselage. I fly off from grass and it's not totally smooth so this is another welcome.

I have been considering doing a mod to the plane. I would like to have a gear that shears off nicely on a flopped landing to save on fuselage damage. I'm not sure on the strength of the fuselage relative to the strength of the bolts and gear itself. Something tells me from experience that the fuselage wood would go first! LOL So I've been contemplating the idea of replacing the metal bolts with four nylon wing bolts. I did this on the 260 and had no problems for a good number of flights. I'd say it lasted atleast 15 flights. I wasn't able to do a long term test however. On my second crash of the 260, the nylon bolts did as expected and sheared. I was worried that four bolts wouldn't shear and felt that only two bolts wasn't enough over time due to their elasticity. I have no way of knowing the stresses absorbed on impact to know if the gear would've stayed intact with metal bolts. I'm guessing probably not as the initial crash landing was similar and the gear plate ripped out with a good deal of damage. So, looking at the 540 I have plenty of room on the left side for the larger bolts. On the right side though, at the factory the L bracket's LG holes are a bit closer to the bend radius. I haven't measured, but they look to be twice as close than what they are on the left. I haven't checked with the gear attached so for right now I just hope my gear lines up nicely, lol. Still the bracket should prove to be plenty strong even with holes in it's radius as there appears to be ample material between the holes. I may end up just replacing the whole bracket if it's insufficient. One thing though, I don't want to experiment with nylon bolts and have them snap on landing when I have my nice carbon prop on this plane! I also fear that if my plane recieves an impact strong enough to shear the nylon bolts, I'm going to have bigger problems to worry about. Who knows for sure, the firewall material is almost twice the thickness where it needs to be than that of the 260. So, perhaps my firewall would stay intact and I'd save from having the gear plate tear out. It's coming to be a coin toss really. I do hate seeing metal bolts on the gear as using nylon when used properly can save on the crash damage. The nylon bolts will have to be monitored a bit more closely than the metal and it may be hard to tell if and when they could get weak over time. I just need to quit having deadsticks or get more practice making a smooth landing on deadstick. PROBLEM SOLVED!!!!

Oh, in regards to the radio install. I'm not sure where I'll be mounting things and the heat from the canister is a concern for me. I've considered lining the canister tunnel in some very light balsa where the ply cutouts are to block any heat. I guess it's not too big of a deal as Tom would have done that. What worries me is in a substained hover I'll build up too much heat inside so I'd like to keep the gear away from the heat. Any suggestions? Is this anything to worry about?

I have two other slight flaws. On the hatch there must have been some wrinkling in the covering and someone cranked up the heat in an attempt to get them out. While, the wrinkles were just ironed down and the canopy melted from the heat. The covering was also scratched a bit and the finished dulled from rubbing the iron against the wrinkles so hard. It's hard to show in the photos, but you can tell that there is a flat spot about an inch in heighth and the width of an iron. Also where the covering wraps around the canopy, it looks to be pealing up a bit. I was thinking of using some Monokote trim solvent here but I don't want it to attack the canopy. As for the flat spot there's not much to be done other than deal with it or get a replacement. See the pic of it, the spot runs between my fingers so it's a good size. I do like how the hatch can be attached without having it tuck under the cowling. That was a pain with the 260 as the cowling always made it a tight it and a struggle to get the hatch under it and in place. So this is a big welcome! I also see there is only two blindnuts for securing the hatch, another plus as long as it's ample enough and I'm sure it will be. On the 260 there's six blindnuts and only about half of them line up nicely. I haven't checked alignment with the Edge, but hoping it'll be good. Also the hatch blocks on the 260 were prone to coming unglued. A big plus with this canopy is that the back section is already cut out and you can access the floor so it'll be easy to plop a pilot inside if needed at anytime. Easy on the 260 as well, just already done here.

Also the second little flaw is that on one wing panel, the hinge was put in a bit close to the rib and to the edge of the hing blocking. The hing blocking was blown out and splintered when drilled. This could've been avoided by moving the hing down 1/2". The block couldn't have been moved much with the rib being there. I hope this isn't a weak spot! The other wing panel is fine.

As for fixing the wing ribs, I have plans on taking some scrap balsa, tacking it to a nylon pushrod so I have a way to reach into the wing, and than using some medium CA to glue it on. With my fix it won't be between the ribs just on the sides to act as support and as long as the glue holds it should be good. Something to keep an eye on for sure, but I trust that should be sufficient. I checked the rest of the wing by feeling it and it seemed good. I couldn't see much past the damage I could see so I hope everything else is well.

It's a shame that there's any wing damage on such a nice bird, especially on both panels in the same spots. Do you guys think my repair idea is okay or should I send the panels back? The hatch is a bit of a bummer, but not too bad. Other than that, an awesome plane. I can't wait to see it fly.

All and all this is a fantastic kit and a real beauty of good quality. The covering is pretty darn wrinkle free everywhere else but on the hatch and I'd have to say the hatch is the hardest area to cover with the plastic canopy being covered as well. The fuselage's turtledeck looks very nice where it tapers around the fin. This is where I usually find wrinkles! The trimming of the covering where it ends on the firewall and hatch area is super. Very nice construction, couldn't find any loose joints. It looks like they used CA glue! The firewall isn't pinned, but looks fine how it is. I may pin it just to add some strength, but not sure if I will as it doesn't look needed. What do you guys think?

Other than that, I need to start building! Congrats if you've read all my typing! I hope flight test prove this plane to be good at both IMAC and 3D. I'm sure IMAC will be good as it has a lot of smooth lines like the Extra. Those control surfaces just scream 3D, man are they awesome! Don't hesitate to buy a WH Edge. Very nice and you'll be pleased! For the price, I can live with a few flaws and having to fix the wing. No big deal, as long as the wing holds. This will not be my last WH kit. From what I can see this plane is an exceptional value and I'm sure after flying I'll be even happier! Now if I paid bigger money for it, by all means would I want replacement panels and a new hatch!

The EF Extra is a great value as well if you have the extra money, no pun intended! $650 for a nice plane with pilot and bags is awesome considering the plane comes with some nice CF parts that I'd love to have, but with the higher shipping I saved $176 going with the WH. That's comparing the cost between the EF with shipping and the WH with optional hardware kit and shipping. I used that extra money to go towards a canister as stated before as the bags did me no good nor did the pilot figure. The EF is crated which if mine was crated than the wing panels most likely would've survived. Who knows as the panels could've been damaged at the factory. Hard to tell for sure.

To sum it up, if you need bags, a pilot, and the shipping is cheaper for you than go for the EF if your heart is set on that. The shipping for the EF was half the distance than what it was for the WH for me however. Not to sound hung up on the shipping, but it still irks me that it was $145. One thing for sure to consider is if you think you might crash than a new kit at $469 is a heck of a deal. So yup you guessed it, WH wins in my book. Fair shipping and a fair price! When I got my 260, it was two years ago and everyone was raving about how awesome it was. So I went with the guys and went for it. I loved it until I saw the differances today between the too. The only thing that 260 has going for it is lightweight and other than awesome vertical I don't know what else it can offer as according to the wing loading of the Edge, it should fly just as light but without the vertical of the 260. More engine should satisfy vertical though as long as weight doesn't go up too much!

Anyway, enjoy the pics and rest of the build shouldn't be so lengthy to read!

[pipercub123]

Guys, please let me know if you can open the zip file. I had a bunch of pics and did the resizing and compressing. However, I tried to open the link and my computer says the file is corrupt. Hmm, I tried the advanced uploading feature but the security settings on my browser gave me problems while dragging new pics in. I tried adjusting security with no avail. I'm not used to uploading several pics at once. Any help is appreciated.

I'll be putting the images in my gallery if that'd be easier.

[66stang]

Nope. why don't you just post them hear and not zip them. If you use photoshop image ready. You can make the file very small in size, but the picture will still show nicely.

[pipercub123]

Okay, hang on.

[pipercub123]

.

[pipercub123]

more pics

[Tired Old Man]

If you call Tom and tell him about the wing damage he'll get you taken care of. But you need to call him for him to know about it. If the wing damage is limited to what's shown in the picture I would simply lay a small balsa splice over the missing areas and keep them. If it's worse or bothers you I would talk to Tom.

A single 7955 will K/E loop a 25 pound, 35% Edge (note the avitar) so your servos will move forward nicely.

Your 4" spinner will have to go. It will protrude around the cowl ring by 1/4" all the way around and just look wrong sticking up above the front of the cowl. Try a fiberglass spinner from PAU that weighs in at about 4-1/2 ounces before the blade areas are cut out. Very easy to cut your own spinner and the thing only costs a bit over $40.00.

The nylon bolts used for landing gear have a very strong propensity to break away on every landing, regardless of how good it was, on larger planes. Better to practice landings and use what comes with the plane. You're Edge will land soft and slow. A forward C/G will make for faster landings. I've had my share of W/H planes, including two of the current version of 28% Edges, and the gear is not weak. Nor is the structure they are mounted on. It won't survive a straight down drop in from 5 feet but then again it's still light enough to permit the plane to fly. Dead sticks are caused by bad engines, bad/dirty carbs, an idle set too low, running out of gas, or poor tuning. There's no reason to have an engine that won't stay running. Determine the cause and take the corrective action required to resolve that problem.

A realistic all up weight will be between 16-1/2 and 17-1/2 pounds depending on how you load up the plane with equipment. You can do lighter. Mine have weighed in just over 16 pounds but I don't use choke servos, redundant batteries, and leave off the wheel pants. However I do replace the stock aluminum wing tube with a C/F tube.

The hatch screws can be made even better by removing the blind nuts and then tapping the hatch tabs for a 10-32 thread. Use a 10-32 nylon hex head screw to secure the hatch. They do not loosen and fall out in flight.

The two screw cowl retention works perfectly. Don't change anything there.

The covering on the hatch may correct itself with a little touch up with a heat gun. Give that a try before sending it back.

There is no need to pin the firewall. If you look at the tab and slot construction you'll note that they act like pins, only larger and stronger. Simply follow the manual directions and wet the engine box and firewall joints with thin CA to act as insurance. That should be done with every arf made anyway.

The glue used in the kit construction is epoxy. The real stuff.

Depending on your C/G you might need up to a 10% elevator to rudder mix for the best knife edge. If you have a computer radio they are easy. Just dial up a P-mix and set the rudder as master and the elevator as slave. Hold the rudder hard over in each direction and adjust the slaved elevator channel for an up mix in the desired amount. You can tweak any mix as needed for the best performance. Either assign the mix to an off-on switch or leave it as always on. Depends on how you want it. Roll coupling should not be much of an issue, if present at all.

You have a very good plane, and the optional hardware kit has all the good stuff that you would need to complete the plane.