Glad it will work for you. These big classic planes take quite a bit of time, way morese then any ARF assembly. I might have mentioned my 540T was an incomplete(never finished or flown) rescue that someone had started on and figured out pretty quickly it was too much for them.

I got mine almost 5yrs ago for a song($100), and it took me this long to get it to this point... between saving and buying components and sourcing missing parts, it takes a while. There's been other projects in between, but it's still time consuming. Probably why they call it a hobby... haha.

My landing gear was missing too. I searched for a year or more on this site and others, and would ya know a local club member owned this plane years ago, and had the exact gear hanging in his garage... and just passed it on to me. I'd actually decided early on I'm not putting big bucks into the airframe itself, rather I'm putting money into the servos/receiver, so I can move that up into a bigger plane, so I spared no expense on the radio gear.

I'm now working a deal on a Carden 300/126" version w/DA170 on pipes. I'll probably have plane in hand next week. So now where do I put these monster planes?... hmm... still working on that part. haha..

Yep. I understand that completely. I just bought the DA-170 for my Sukhoi today. I’ve been selling my smaller planes to make room!!

Called Graph-Tech today. They will make a gear to any dimension you request at no charge. They have a form on their website. I’m going to use the dims you sent me and order one. Thanks again!

JAM

Hey Dale - one more thing - could you measure the length of your wing and tail tubes, please? And does your wing tube have a polished finish? The friend I got this plane from found the tubes.......he just wasn’t 100% sure if they are original or not. Just wanted to see how they compare with yours. Thank you.

I finally got to mount the wing and tail on the plane. It’s pretty frickin’ big. Really excited about this plane.

Originally Posted by Motomazzo

Hey Dale - one more thing - could you measure the length of your wing and tail tubes, please? And does your wing tube have a polished finish? The friend I got this plane from found the tubes.......he just wasn’t 100% sure if they are original or not. Just wanted to see how they compare with yours. Thank you.

I finally got to mount the wing and tail on the plane. It’s pretty frickin’ big. Really excited about this plane.

Wing tube length is right at 39"... It has a dull finish, definitely not polished, nor is the stab tube... they're both dull aluminum.

My stab and tube already on/in the plane, and I'm not in a position to pull it out at the moment, but I can tell you the stab tube ends about 1/8" from the servo bay(in each stab). If you look into the servo bay on the stabs, you should see the hole(they bored right into the servo bay)... and the tube ends just short of going into each servo bay.

I used the stock stab retention system with screws coming from the bottom of the stabs into the tube. Before I installed it, I shaped and glued hardwood ply into each side of the stab tube, then drilled and threaded the screw holes for 4/40 screws, and used bonded washers on those screws.

This is how mine is at this point, and it's pretty much box stock so far. I haven't really deviated from the information I've found in the manuals... The biggest thing I'm possibly interested in is the main wing retention system, and I probably will deviate from the manuals and modernize it somehow. I've got a few ideas.

At 106" wingspan these things are fairly large for a 100cc plane, and I'm thinking pretty heavy... way heavy compared to a modern aerobat... I've seen these referred to as a 35% plane as well... but I really don't know.. If you do math it's splitting hairs as to what actual scale size it is..

I also have a GreatPlanes Extra 330L that's a 100" with the same 102cc engine, and it's noticeably lighter just in handling and moving the plane about... so we'll see. The 540 might do very well if it's all shored up and fitted with a modern 120cc engine... but hey it's all good... I'm sure these planes didn't cost us anywhere near what a modern plane did... but still are very cool projects... and will be very nice flyers I'm sure.

Okay, thank you. I knew this one was short. Wing tube sockets in the wings are about 15” and the fuselage is 9 3/4” wide. See? This is how bad things happen. I know of several folks who would’ve used this wing tube and it’s way too short. Then they would wonder why the structure failed. Not saying it would 100%, but given this plane’s past, I’m not going to use a wing tube that is 1/2” too short, much less 3-4”. I’ll order up a new one. I would love to get carbon wing and tail tubes but with a brief search, it seemed the O.D.’s of the tubes and sockets were not playing nice with each other. And I don’t want to get into socket replacement just for the sake of a carbon tube. Thanks again for the info!

Sorry. One more thing - could you measure your wing and tail tube wall thicknesses please? Thank you. My tail tube is .035” which seems right but the wing tube is .060”. That may be right but seems heavy. Just wanted to check. All my other planes have carbon so I have no reference. Thank you.

So... I've been looking around for my mic that I haven't used in a while.. and it seems to be AWOL.. so hopefully I'll find it soon.. and I can measure the wall thickness of the wing tube.

Ive been searching my memory too about any distinct differences in wall thickness between wing tube and stab tube, and nothing jumps at me about the wing tube being considerably thicker than the stab tube. Other than diameters they seemed relatively matched... in finish, and thickness.

I'm not much help I know.. but you raise some good questions... and you might not have matching or correct tubes.

When I get caught up around here, I'll pull a stab off but it might take me a bit... and that will give me time to find my micrometer too.

I can say my tubes are a pretty precise fit into the sleeves. Not tight, but just seem perfectly snug, and only shift/move when effort is applied.

Remember too, my tubes are definitely not polished, and you said yours are, which raises a question if you have the correct tubes of course.

I'll leave you with these pics for what it's worth... and I'll look into it a bit more at first chance..

Hey Dale - Okay. No worries. I’m not in a rush. From your pics, I’m going to say that the wing tube looks to be .035” but it’s probably chamfered a little too for ease of insertion.

I’m pretty sure my tail tube is correct. It is dull, the correct length and wall thickness (I think), and it was drilled and had the wooden hard points inside for the retention screws........which I will be doing away with during the refurb. At any rate, I’ll be ordering new tubing and replacing both once I’m sure of the wall thicknesses.

Switching gears some - I’ve given up on searching for another cowling which might fit this plane. I began looking at how I will glass mine yesterday. It will come out fine. I’m going to try another method of glass layup which will not include any balsa or thin ply base as a support for the glass. I did that for tbe SBach cowling in a refurb I completed a few months ago and I think it added unnecessary weight. More to come on that.

https://fibertechnmore.com/aw-02-aer...berglass-cowl/

Get a new cowl here.


Scott

Sadly, I don’t believe that’s the correct size. This is a 33% Edge. I called Extreme Flight and none of their cowlings were the correct size. I’ll double-check on this one but I bet it’s too large.

Originally Posted by Motomazzo

Sadly, I don’t believe that’s the correct size. This is a 33% Edge. I called Extreme Flight and none of their cowlings were the correct size. I’ll double-check on this one but I bet it’s too large.

It’s the same plane. The span on your ARF is 105 I think. No one ever really understood why they called the 540 T arf a 33%. The Aero works edge ARF was derived from their kit built edge which is the exact plane just in arf form. I built 5 or 6 of them in the early 2000’s and still have a kit built and one of the 540 t arf’s as well. Looks like your well on your way to fixing your cowl anyway. Good luck with the rebuild. Great flying planes even by today’s standards.

Scott

I wouldn’t say no one. The full size 540T has a longer wingspan than the single seat. Hence although they shared the same wing the AW single seat was 36% and the T was 33%.

Well, that’s great news. But how weird on the percentages. 33% and 36% are different numbers to me, LOL! Anyway, I visited the link you sent and saw that they included the rough dimensions with the cowling. I totally missed it before. And yes, the dimensions they list are exactly what my cowling is. So that’s awesome. What made it more confusing is, I contacted Rick at Fibertech and More last week and asked him if they carried the cowling for the 33% Aeroworks Edge 540. All he told me was he didn’t. Not that they were the same plane / cowling. He must not know. Thank you very much for the clarification!

Originally Posted by Motomazzo

Well, that’s great news. But how weird on the percentages. 33% and 36% are different numbers to me, LOL! Anyway, I visited the link you sent and saw that they included the rough dimensions with the cowling. I totally missed it before. And yes, the dimensions they list are exactly what my cowling is. So that’s awesome. What made it more confusing is, I contacted Rick at Fibertech and More last week and asked him if they carried the cowling for the 33% Aeroworks Edge 540. All he told me was he didn’t. Not that they were the same plane / cowling. He must not know. Thank you very much for the clarification!

If it matches up size wise go get it Saves you lots of work and have a nice cowl .

Looks good