what engine for an edge 540

[Doublesixes]

I have over 250 flights on my Edge 77 from CG awith a DL in the nose. I couldn't be more pleased with the combo. It feels light enough to do 3D and IMAC. Power to weight ratio is awesome. The 77's frame is more than enough for the DL50. IMHO if a pilot wants to fly very often as I do then gas is the only option. The DL50 or the DA are my top choices for this bird.

[RV-9A]

Hello All,

I am the one who had the 18 pound flying brick. I sold the plane and it has since changed hands again. The person who has it now is using a DL 50. I believe he said the weight minus fuel is 15 pounds 4 ounces.
The performance with this engine is outstanding and appears to be limited to what the pilot can do.
I am now flying the Aeroworks Edge 540T with a Saito 91. With the price of glo fuel going up like it is another Goldberg Edge just may be in the future!!

RV9-A

[Tin man]

As long as this thread is still kinda active, and to possibly help anyone on the fence regarding glow Vs. gas, I'll chime in with my .02...

I owned a Goldberg Edge with a YS 1.20. This was the 67" Edge. Flew that Edge for 200+ flights. Currently have 3 gassers, the smallest being an H9 27% Extra 260, with a DA50. No real issues with the H9 Extra either.

But I no longer fly any glow planes. As others have noted, glow fuel has gone up in price. Worse, when you fly larger glow engines they generally prefer higher nitro percentages. Sure they'll fly with 15% nitro, but they prefer 20%--or higher for more performance. I've had to pay as much as $25 per gallon for fuel. And I can easily go through a gallon or more in one day. Oh, and let's not forget the 20% oil content. "Crap, I ran outta fuel and no one has 20/20 in stock locally."

Then there's cleaning up the glow-fuel slime. Slime running down the landing gear. Under the stabs. Do I really want to waste the towels, and perhaps cleaning fluid, wiping it up after each flight, or deal with it at the end of the day? New plane: after each flight. Next day, plane ain't so new: clean it at the end of the day! My hands were pretty much "oiled" nearly all of the time. "Oops, slimed my transmitter now. Hope I don't lose my grip."

Moreover, I found (larger) four-stroke high-performance glow engines to be a bit quirky at times. I have no doubt that others have no issues with them. But for me they were a challenge. Backfires till I got the priming routine down ("gotta put that prop back on!"). The mysterious and often misunderstood YS regulator. The slime inside the fuse 'cause the fuel tank stopper came out ("Should have gotten a Tetra tank from the get-go!"). I could go on.

While I may have exaggerated the cons of larger 4S glow engines, most of the above is accurate--or at least how I remember it to be.

So to me unless you have someone to clean up your plane, and perhaps buy the fuel and bring out and maintain the supporting field equipment, it's not worth it to run glow. That is, if you can "reasonably" run a gas engine. Yes, glow engines are lighter but to me their cons don't make up for that pro.

And of course once you get past the 25%-27% arena there really isn't much question as to which kind of engine to run.

Don't get me started on electrics...

EDIT: Just so I don't sound horribly anti-glow I should note that yesterday I maidened a Goldberg 67" Yak for a guy at our field moving up from a trainer. I have to say that plane flew great. It almost had me wanting something that size to toss around the sky, even if it meant glow.



--
Miike

[Doublesixes]

Tin man, I agree with you 100% regarding gas vs glow with 25% planes.
Once you try gas, there's no going back to glow. You eloquently pointed out the reasons. This 77" Edge is big enough for a 50cc. In my view, most of the time, people give their expert opinion not based on personal experience but on what they think a combo might be good or not. Mine with a DL50 weighs in at barely 12.5 lbs, wet. I use a 12oz tank, 2s lipo (1800mahs) for radio and my DX7 nicad receiver pack for ignition. Kicks ass.