Seagull Edge 540

[Clive Moore]

Hi all, I have recently purchased the Seagull Edge 540 46-55 size (DELUXE) ARTF. I decided on this after reading Davids review in RCM&E as I wanted something to fly on windy days.

 

Having put together a number of ARTFs I found that it went together without any real problems. I fitted a Laser 70 which provides bags of power but I did have to relocate the engine mount to accommodate the Laser.

 

I have three gripes with the kit:

 

1) The supplied fuel tank is ridiculously small and would only give about a 7 min flight to empty with the Laser. I resolved this by fitting a larger tank but this should not be neccasary in a kit described as "deluxe".

 

2) The wheel spats lasted three flights before cracking and requiring removal. I fly from a reasonable grass patch.

 

3) My biggest gripe is about the undercarrige mounting block which is made of very poor quality 10mm ply (you could delaminate it just using your fingers) and it was stuck with not much glue to thin balsa in the air frame. Needless to say it failed after just a few not particularly hard landings with the ply plate just shattering.

 

I think (but I'm not sure) that the "Deluxe" in the description refers to the fittings which with the exception of the aformentioned tank were all very good.

 

Having said  the above I do think it flys realy well particulaly on windy days which is what I wanted, and for just over £100 for the airframe I do think its good value for money, however I would be prepared to pay a few pounds more for kits like this if I new that they were put together properly in the first place with decent undercarige mounts / glue etc. That way I could spend more time flying and less time fixing what should have been right from the start.

 

Regards

 

 Clive