Vecchio Austriaco

I have a 30 years old EMCO compact 5" - it is perfect for this hobby. This type of lathe has been used in the past also by the industry for laboratories and for education - they were sold in the UK and were mainly in use by life steam modellers. engine 500W, max diameter 5", max length 450, automatic feed, thread cutting (even the nasty 11x0,75....), vertical equipment for drilling and milling, dividing head and so on. Last but not least: Made in Austria as I am .   VA

I would suggest a Hitec HS82 MG. Very reliable, fast enough, and not too expensive. I run 12 of these in different planes, up to 1,6m wingspan. There is also the HS 81, plastic gear, even cheaper, but for ailieron servos I would suggest metal gear. Otherwise you change gears every time you touch ground with the wings during a rough landing. VA

Hi Sheldon,   I ordered one size smaller as the recommended 2-blade prop. The 2-blade for this engine should be 13x8 - so I ordered 12x8.. And of course I ordered 2- otherwise it will break at the first bad landing.... Murphys law.... By the way  - also I ordered a Graupner one as the nicer props are all starting at bigger sizes. I will see - if the engine revs are too high I will order a bigger one. But this will take time as I am far away from having finished the model (dosn't matter - i like building... ) VAEdited By Vecchio Austriaco on 28/02/2010 20:44:25

The flying weather did not last the whole weekend - after a sunny Saturday followed a rainy Sunday. Means a perfect building day.   I made support pieces for the silencer from aluminium, even I think it will not be that hot it looks better than wood. Unfortunately the 5mm aluminium sheet pieces I found in my scrap box where very close to pure aluminium - means very soft and hard to cut. I ruined 2 drill bits as they got just stuck in the soft material. But finally I made it.     Having finished these pieces I saw that I cannot fix them properly to the fusealage as the exhaust tubes will almost disappear in the cowl. So I decided to make a little support panel to put them on in the right place. Installing the support panel to the fuselage was a real pain as I did not have proper access to the screws - I could neiter see them nor use any tool to put the locknuts on. Even for my fingers there was not enough room so I stuck  the locknut on a strong magnet, which I stuck to a piece of  iron and tried to find the screw by "feeling" it. Actually not a bad idea, unfortunately the bolts and nuts of the landing gear were rather close, so the magent prefered to stick himself to those instead to the end of the nut.   One hour fiddling for 3 M3 nuts.... After having success I attached the flex tube to the engine, using the right force to get tight connenctions. When I fixed the flex tube to the silencer I broke off both exhaust tubes. As it looks I did not leave enough thickness in the area of the thread. Ok.. All out again, back to the lathe, now I used a bigger thread, 8x0,75mm. Not more than an hour delay and the new tubes are produced. This time I could use more force and did not ruin the tubes.   The light grey part is the support panel which is bolted to the fuselage in a 1 hour job.... Now all connections are tight as I don't plan to take the exhaust off again.   Finally I cut the necessary openings into the cowl to allow the exhaust tubes to look out and I put all together. And I have to say I am pleased with the effect. Looks like a little Extra.  Yes I know - the prototype has a 3-blade prop - mine is still in the post - so I did put on what I have just to make the photo.    

I few the Edge 540 EP for one year and I can recommend this little plane. I had no issues with the control horns, the only thing I always change (because of nasty experience in the past) are the pushrods. I always use a stable version using ball links as once (on a flitton Extra 260) the pushrod screw opened and I lost the plane as the elevator got stuck on max pull....   2 Servos for the elevator: No sync problems at all (2 equal servos of course). I rewired one of the servos to inverted movement (polarity change of engine and potentiometer) and used an Y cable. The slight weight issue can be overcome with a bit of lead near the firewall.   Landing gear: I didn't like the wire solution and used a landing gear made from flat aluminium strip instead.     Only warning: Don't use skis as they change the aerodynamics dramatically - lost my Edge due to a nasty stall near the ground. VA   Edited By Vecchio Austriaco on 28/02/2010 06:54:34

After looking at the picture of the real thing I did not only change the distance of the tubes but I changed also their diameter as they where looking much too little with 8mm diameter. I went up to 10mm and now it looks better. Also I prepared the flex tube in the right length.   As you can see this time I did not cut the thread 100% vertical, but looking at the prototype I can see that also their tubes are all but straight. So I leave this little error. The test fit is ok, the problem of how to fix the silencer in this position is still to be decided.   But today is flying weather here - so the Extra has to wait a little bit.   Edited By Vecchio Austriaco on 27/02/2010 07:19:11

Now I had a look at the real thing and I see that the distance between the two tubes is too small. So I will plug one of the holes and move one tube further away. But this is a job for tomorrow.

I didn't find a brass tube with sufficient diameter in my metal collection so I decided to modify the existing silencer. To do so I drilled two wholes at the position where I want the exhaust tubes and cut a 6x0,75 thread in. The I made the 2 exhaust tubes from aluminium, 46x8mm. One side got 6mm 6x0,75 thread. on the vilible side I drilled a 7mm hole into the aluminium bar, so the remaining wall is 0,5mm. In the thread area I drilled 4.3mm.   I made also a test piece to see how flexible my tube is, I am quite satisfied, it can be bent to a very small radius.  The flex tube is silver sodered to the threaded brass flange.   The original exhaust tube of the silencer I closed by an aluminium plug, I made the plug conical (0,5° and pressed it into the hole.   now the whole thing is assembled.   And now Istart to think how to fix the silencer to the firewall or fuselage. VA

A little update about what has happened.   I tried to find the best position for the engine - actually it is clear that the main shaft has to be in the center - but the problem were the nylon motor mount parts. Due to the fact that I "lifted" the carburator up it was not easy to find a position where the carburettor was not in the way and I have access to the main needle. finally I found the position. I also made a test-fit of the cowl, which has been resprayed and the openings are cut in. I am quite happy with the surface quality  but unfortunately there is a nice difference in colour between the monocote and the cowl.       Here you can see the test fit from the front. I am very happy with the cutting for the valve box, it looks good, but it is too small. (currently bad access to the glow plug)   The original parts for the undercarriage are very stable aluminium parts, they are not only stable but also heavy and far avay from the real thing.       Unfortunately I was standing 2 meters in front of the prototype, so I know that the original undercarriage is from carbon fibre and also a kind of half circle shape. So I looked into the market where I found those.         This undercarriage looks much more like the real thing, should be ok for planes up to 3 kg and I saved 50g of weight.   Saving weight: As I changed the wing servos I also changed the rudder and elevator servos.     For the rudder I found a HS85 MG in my collection, for the elevator two HS 81. The HS 81 have plastic gear, but I dont plan to touch the ground with the elevator (you never know...) and also I have some spare gear sets for them as I use them also in other planes.   Here you can see for the first time a bottom view of the plane.   Next stage will be to finish the cowl openings - which means I have to think about the muffler position.  I have already an idea - I would like to have two outlet tubes in the same position as on the prototype. So far I am not sure if I will purchase a new muffler or if I modify the existing one. In any case I have to make a flex tube extension between engine and muffler. VA   Edited By Vecchio Austriaco on 23/02/2010 21:57:07 Edited By Vecchio Austriaco on 23/02/2010 21:59:38

I flew mine always with the cog 7cm behind leading edge as indicated in the instructions. The plane flew absolute uncritical. May be you can even go further back with the COG.   Why am I writing in past tense? I crashed my Edge 3 weeks ago. Be carefull if you fly the Edge with skis mounted. They change the characteristics dramatic. I had 2 nice unexpected stalls, the second one too low above the Italian soil. So the plane is history now. I just kept the canopy with it's pilot in case I find the kit again in one of the shops...   Have a lot of fun with this plane! VA Edited By Vecchio Austriaco on 22/02/2010 13:37:51 Edited By Vecchio Austriaco on 22/02/2010 13:39:31