Tony
Staff member
Well today I again went out to the flying field and did some flying. I took 3 planes and my 450 heli. The planes I took were the Habu, Edge 540 Mini, and Edge 540T. First thing I put in the air was the Habu. Solid! Love this plane. Second was the 450. Something just didn't feel right. Whether it was me or the heli, I just wasn't feeling it. So I cut that flight about a minute short. Next up was the Fliton Edge 540.
The last time I flew the Edge 540, Yesterday, the motor was smoking hot coming down. Maybe a fluke, but I thought I would toss it back in the air again today. After a flight, again the motor was smoking hot. Enough to put a nice shiny spot on my finger where I touched it lol. Ah well, it's just a motor. Plane landed quite well, I must be getting better at landing, so it was a successful flight.
Next up was the Edge 540T. Upon putting the battery in, I noticed that there was very little still holding the battery tray down. I was still going to fly, but this means only upright flying and anything that keeps positive G's on the battery. If I was to do a snap or inverted loop, the battery would have fallen off the tray. But, it flew, however there was some fluttering in the control surfaces. Not fun when you are just trying to get used to it again lmao. But, came down in one piece, motor was ice cold, but battery had a little heat, not much though.
Then we met a couple people at the field, and I made a comment of "want to fly the Orange plane (Edge 540 Mini). She said sure. I said I didn't have a trainer chord, and she said "that's okay, I have one". I wasn't too sure how to take this as I have never done anything on a buddy box. But, I wanted to see someone else fly this plane since Matt never flew it lmao.
Come to find out, the cable they had won't work with my DX8. We tried everything to get it working. I'm not sure what is different, but it didn't work. So we couldn't fly it. However, I put it in the air and noticed a lack of power about a minute in. I decided to just land it and did it without power (dead stick). I was about 4' above the runway and the thing just fell out of the sky. Ended up bending the landing gear (not a big deal, they are aluminum) but smacked the prop on the runway and broke the tips. Suck.
I felt the motor after that short flight, and again, it was hot.
That brings us to the planes now. When I got home, I looked at the planes sitting here in my office and in my car (Edge 540T, Edge Mini, Extra 260 and Rogue 3D Bipe). I had already put another motor in the bipe and I want to fly it in a bad way. But, need a prop. Not sure what happened to my 12x6 prop, but I can't find it. I looked at the Edge Mini, and decided to pull the motor out of it. Looked at the Extra 260 (Ole' Faithful!) and decided to put that motor in that plane.
Here is why I decided to put the motor in the Extra. For one, there is a larger opening in the nose of the plane. There is also a large hole in the bottom of the cowl. There are also exhaust holes in the bottom of the fuse for the hot air to come out. This "should" keep the motor cooler. We will find out next weekend. So I stuck the motor and ESC in it from the Edge Mini.
Here is the problem. The last time I flew the Extra, upon landing, the hinges broke on the rudder. I'm talking this thing landed perfectly, but the hinges were so weak that it just broke off the plane. This caused it to pull hard on the servo (cheap blue servos all around) and strip out the gears. screw it, I just hung it up. Then, I started the RCH Trainer Build Videos. I needed some blue servos to match the plane. Guess where I got them...
So I needed servos for the Extra. I didn't want to spend money, and I surely didn't want to wait on shipping. So, I stripped the EXI D113F servos out of the Edge Mini and stuck them in the Extra. As of right now, ALL electronics out of the Edge are now in the Extra. The Extra is now setup and ready to be trimmed out. The rudder has brand new hinges, and even though I screwed up on it, it will still work great. I have about 55º of deflection with the rudder. I think it will hold a knife edge quite well lol.
So until I get some more digital servos for the Edge Mini, and a bigger motor, it will stay grounded. It sucks, this thing looks amazing! Ah well, gotta go with what works. Not sure what servos I'm going to put in it, but I can assure you, they are going to be digital. I just can't wait to get this Extra back in the air. Last time I flew it, this thing was amazing!
So next weekend I'm hoping to get this thing in the air. Hoping to have the Edge 540T in the air as well with a fixed battery tray. Here's hoping for the best!
The last time I flew the Edge 540, Yesterday, the motor was smoking hot coming down. Maybe a fluke, but I thought I would toss it back in the air again today. After a flight, again the motor was smoking hot. Enough to put a nice shiny spot on my finger where I touched it lol. Ah well, it's just a motor. Plane landed quite well, I must be getting better at landing, so it was a successful flight.
Next up was the Edge 540T. Upon putting the battery in, I noticed that there was very little still holding the battery tray down. I was still going to fly, but this means only upright flying and anything that keeps positive G's on the battery. If I was to do a snap or inverted loop, the battery would have fallen off the tray. But, it flew, however there was some fluttering in the control surfaces. Not fun when you are just trying to get used to it again lmao. But, came down in one piece, motor was ice cold, but battery had a little heat, not much though.
Then we met a couple people at the field, and I made a comment of "want to fly the Orange plane (Edge 540 Mini). She said sure. I said I didn't have a trainer chord, and she said "that's okay, I have one". I wasn't too sure how to take this as I have never done anything on a buddy box. But, I wanted to see someone else fly this plane since Matt never flew it lmao.
Come to find out, the cable they had won't work with my DX8. We tried everything to get it working. I'm not sure what is different, but it didn't work. So we couldn't fly it. However, I put it in the air and noticed a lack of power about a minute in. I decided to just land it and did it without power (dead stick). I was about 4' above the runway and the thing just fell out of the sky. Ended up bending the landing gear (not a big deal, they are aluminum) but smacked the prop on the runway and broke the tips. Suck.
I felt the motor after that short flight, and again, it was hot.
That brings us to the planes now. When I got home, I looked at the planes sitting here in my office and in my car (Edge 540T, Edge Mini, Extra 260 and Rogue 3D Bipe). I had already put another motor in the bipe and I want to fly it in a bad way. But, need a prop. Not sure what happened to my 12x6 prop, but I can't find it. I looked at the Edge Mini, and decided to pull the motor out of it. Looked at the Extra 260 (Ole' Faithful!) and decided to put that motor in that plane.
Here is why I decided to put the motor in the Extra. For one, there is a larger opening in the nose of the plane. There is also a large hole in the bottom of the cowl. There are also exhaust holes in the bottom of the fuse for the hot air to come out. This "should" keep the motor cooler. We will find out next weekend. So I stuck the motor and ESC in it from the Edge Mini.
Here is the problem. The last time I flew the Extra, upon landing, the hinges broke on the rudder. I'm talking this thing landed perfectly, but the hinges were so weak that it just broke off the plane. This caused it to pull hard on the servo (cheap blue servos all around) and strip out the gears. screw it, I just hung it up. Then, I started the RCH Trainer Build Videos. I needed some blue servos to match the plane. Guess where I got them...
So I needed servos for the Extra. I didn't want to spend money, and I surely didn't want to wait on shipping. So, I stripped the EXI D113F servos out of the Edge Mini and stuck them in the Extra. As of right now, ALL electronics out of the Edge are now in the Extra. The Extra is now setup and ready to be trimmed out. The rudder has brand new hinges, and even though I screwed up on it, it will still work great. I have about 55º of deflection with the rudder. I think it will hold a knife edge quite well lol.
So until I get some more digital servos for the Edge Mini, and a bigger motor, it will stay grounded. It sucks, this thing looks amazing! Ah well, gotta go with what works. Not sure what servos I'm going to put in it, but I can assure you, they are going to be digital. I just can't wait to get this Extra back in the air. Last time I flew it, this thing was amazing!
So next weekend I'm hoping to get this thing in the air. Hoping to have the Edge 540T in the air as well with a fixed battery tray. Here's hoping for the best!