Seagull Edge 540 EP

[Merlin spit]

Hi , I brought this at wings and wheels for £60 ,i thought id do a thead onit  has theres not much info on the web about it at the moment ,here's the spec of the model first of all:

 

• Wingspan - 42.7ins. (108.5cm)
• Wing area - 376.7sq.ins (24.3sq.dm)
• Suits Motor - 4445700  1100kv
  
• Requires - 4 channel RC with 5 micro servos
• Factory covered with Profilm
• Length - 38.8ins (98.6cm)
• Approx flying weight - 2.4-2.9lbs (1100-1300g)
• Suits Battery - 2100 to 3200 (3 or 4 cell Li-pol

 so far ive only glued  all of the control hinges using thin CA ,and bolted the motor onto the mount  seagull suply two diffrent size mounts  in the box .

[Merlin spit]

As you can see from the pics the wings are fitted using a metal tube wing brace and nylon bolts so are easily removed for transport if needed. the overall build quality of the kit is very good and im looking forward to putting it  together and seeing how it performs.ive had some good input from other  forum members who have had the model or similar seagull planes  on another thread I started when I was looking at buying one of these.

i will be looking to get a about 375-400w ,im not in to 3d flying so  i feel this should be anough for my needs , ive got a turnigy 1000kv 605W sk series motor and a 60a turnigy plush esc ,so far testing a 11x7 prop on a 3s 2200 20c battery is pulling 325w and 30amps , so it looks like i might have to prop up a bit (pushing the amps up ,not good for this battery) or get a 4s battery  ,i have been think ing about test flying it on the 325 watts first to see how it goes ,the spec does recommend a 3s 2200-3200mah so maybe a 3200 3s battery and slightly bigger prop would do the trick,any way il get it stuck together first and see what you lot think

Edited By austen rover on 19/07/2009 00:38:52

[Stephen Grigg]

To further my flying Ive bought a Yak 54,by Overlander.Ive a Seagull 300 Extra in the cupboard.I should have saved my money and put that back together.Ive already built it once and not yet flown it,then aI stole the bits out of it and built something else with them.Chatted to a chap at the club who finds hie extra fine to fly

[David Ashby - Moderator]

I've not seen or flown that particular model from Seagull's EP range but those that I have seen or flown are very fine models Austen. Good value too

[Merlin spit]

well i was hoping to finsh the model and get it flying this week but i ve slipped a disk (3rd time this year) and cant really do anything  

 

 

[Merlin spit]

still of work with the back ,but got some work done on the edge more all less finished

 

I ve come a cross a few problems with the kit the worst being the elevator servo's being cut out opposite each other being very annoying as the servo's I was using are quite deep anyway ,as you can see ive packed these out a bit to get them to fit ,I wish i had put the servos inside now but id already cut the film out of the holes .

 

 i used a y lead on the elevator servos and put one control horn opposite to the other to get them to work together ,i used the linkage stoppers supplied and a bit of thread lock ,I used epoxy on the wooden control horns   .

[Merlin spit]

i had the decision made for me on the battery front with one 2200 3s i couldnt get the COG forward anough so ive gone with 2 in paralell give 4400 3s 20c ,with a AUW of 2.9lbs a little heavy , i put this down to the metal gear servos 3 of which hang out of the tail any way im going give it a  test flight as it is .

Edited By austen rover on 27/07/2009 17:04:23

[Merlin spit]

so for the test flight im going with a 11x7 prop pulling 325watts on the setup mention earlier ,the motor was easy to fit with the supplied mount and the cowl i lined up and held in place with masking tape while i drilled and screw ed it into place .the wings are held on with a alloy brace and nylon bolts .

 

 i havnt mentioned the under carridge as im not going to fit one, it will just rip out in the field im going to fly from anyway. im hoping my belly land skills will be smooth as the model certainly not designed for it ,but nothing ventured nothing gained

 

maiden soon weather permitting

 

 

 

[Jeremy Butler]

I didn't like all those servos hanging out the back so I moved all of them including the aileron servos inboard. I havn't used the under carridge either, it belly lands ok. Had just two flights so far as its been so windy down south.

[Merlin spit]

im with you jeremy i wish id put them inside now ,for two reason to protect them and make the tail lighter ,im glad to hear it belly lands ok

[Merlin spit]

well i went out at 6am today and tried to maiden the edge ,as soon as i was in the air the wind got very stong and rain was on its way so only did a couple of circuits ,which were very hard, the edge was very tail heavy and with the wind getting worst i landed ,then got soaked by the lovly summer were having

 

anyway im at a loss as what to do next with the edge ive got the batteries as far forward as possible and dont want to add any more weight ,maybe il go back to one battery and add weight  to the nose ,maybe i should move them tail servo's inside ,i also noticed on landing one of the aeliron servo arms had dug in the grass and pulled right round ,so maybe i need to fit the wheels and find a smooth runway (been thinking of joining a club for a while)or put them inside aswell.

 

im sure it will fly great when COG is right and its a  bit calmer day

 

 

[Terry Whiting]

Austen,

 

I personall would move those sevos

 

Incuding the extention leads you must have aproximately 50g of  extra weight in the tail for no other reason than bad design.   For many of  these ARTF designs it's become the in thing.  Maybe they think it gives the mode the 'macho look'

For all my builds I use pull pull (close loop) . the only weight penalty is 4 quick links, if that was my model that is the route I would take.

[Merlin spit]

Thanks Terry,

 

I think your right they've got to go inside ,il just have to stick some film over the holes ,i wonder if id put the under carriege on if that would of helped the COG. i do feel that i need to stick with one battery and keep the weight down as much as possible

[Terry Whiting]

Austen,

 

The undercarriage will help with balance, but small wheels snatch when landing on grass, and that treatment with ARTF in time usually ends up rekitting the model.

 

Have you thought of repositioning your aileron horns and servos for exiting via the top of the wing, I know they do not look pretty, but a couple of neat shrouds can smarten the job.

 

For that extra little nose weight that might be necessary, I used brass dome prop nuts, you couldn't have nose weight further forward than that.

 

 

Edited By Terry Whiting on 01/08/2009 07:23:27

[Tim Kearsley]

My Edge 540 has had a lot of flights now, all off grass, and the only problem I've had with the U/C has been one of the saddle clamps on the spats splitting.  A good fillet of epoxy cured that and it's been right as rain ever since.

 

It's a very nice model to fly.  I had four flights up at the field yesterday lunchtime, when it was quite breezy - I've found it handles the wind quite well, considering it's a fairly light model.

 

I've left the rudder and elevator servos at the rear and achieved a good CG position with a 3200 mAh pack up front.  I usually stop and land after 10 minutes, but there's normally power to spare left in the pack.

 

Cheers,

 

Tim.

 

[Jeremy Butler]

Austen.  What position is your COG. I have mine set to 70mm from the leading edge measured at the root. Mine seems to fly quite well at that position. 

[Nicholas Kay]

Evening,

 

Completed my maiden flight this evening, all went well and I left the fied with a huge smile, as well as a model in 1 piece!

 

Standard config with a AXI 2820/10 11" x 5.5", 3000mAh and 5 x 9g E-flight servo's. CoG 70-75mm from the leading edge gave no issue on performance or stability.  Awaiting an alloy prop nut to complete the look that will knock the balance forward.

 

Got to 12mins and brought it in with some to spare.

 

Did a few touch 'n goes, the gear whilst whispy is fine on the short grass of the cricket square.

 

At full speed, impressive vertical performance, punching a hole in the sky.  Low speed handling, predicatable and stable.  Landings made on 3 points with a handful of flair.

 

All round an excellent model that will be first out the car not the last next time the weather is nice!

 

Nick

[Merlin spit]

well i flew the edge again in calm winds still with the tail servos and the two batteries it flew ok but i didnt feel it was right ,had no trouble with the belly landing though.

i will have to move the tail servos and have done with it 

[Merlin spit]

well finally got the edge flying today ,i used some 9g servo on the tail and they worked great perfect balance was acheived with the 2 2200 batteries and gave 18 mins flying

 

the wind was quite gusty but the edge performed very well and i even managed some nice knife edge passes ,altough not perfect  they showed how capable the plane is in the wind even if im not.

 

i had a rough belly landing as well but no damage done, that oracover is tough stuff 

 

very good value for money and a good first aerobatic model IMO

[Vecchio Austriaco]

Hi, I have the Edge since February and I like it a lot. It may be right that the 3 servos at the back make it tail heavy - but with a little lead in the front this can be easily corrected. 

In comparison to other Asian ARTF's the fuselage is quite strong build and you can hold the plane without crushing it...

The landing gear I didn't like and replaced it with one of aluminium. Works fine, plane takes off well even from our not always low cut airfield. The plane flies stable and has no nasty stalling tendencies. 

Picture shows the Edge in March at Camparada. 

In July I had a bad crash because of a radio failure, the fuselage was destroyed until the end of the canopy. But as I like the plane I decided to rebuild it. 

Here you see the rebuilt part before adding the wing tube. 

It took a lot of 2component filler and a lot of patience to get the engine cover into shape again. I could not find the 100% matching colors - especially the blue is a bit dark - but I am proud of my work. 

And so is the pilot. 

The Edge flies like before, due to the repair I could avoid most of the extra ballast weight I had in the front before the crash. 

Enjoy your model!

[ntsmith]

Does this really need 5 servos. Could the elevator be joined and then use only one for this assuming the elevator is what requires the two servos? It would help with the CG problem mentioned.

[ntsmith]

I have just received mine from BRC models (Cant praise that form enough) and am more than impressed with the model. The quality overall is as good as eflite's but at about half the price of a cmparable eflite model. I thought it was going to have a bent wire retainer for the canopy retention (like another Seagull EP model I had) but this one uses magnets - and a very firm grip they gice too.

The covering was impeccable.

I didn't experience the problem the reviewer had with not being able to fit the two elevator servos either side as there was plent of room using the suggested 9g servos.
I am going to use an eflite park 480 motor as that should be more than enough power. The battery is probably going to be a 3000maH 3S just because of the room but I guess it would be more than happy with a 2200maH 3S battery. I guess that also depends on where the CG is likely to be coming out.

[ntsmith]

Just got mine and after reading the review my modus operandi was to use five servos and connect the elevators with some piano wire but I have elected to go with the five servos just for the fun (read hell perhaps) of setting the elevaitors up.

Very impressed so far.

Edited By ntsmith on 16/02/2010 19:28:05

[ntsmith]

Well I have mine finished  - but. Is the CG given correct?

Does anyone know what theirs is measured from the LE at the fuselage?

The instructions says 7cm at the tip from the leading edge which seems a long way back.

[Merlin spit]

i found the cog in manual fine , just needed a bit of tinkering because i didnt fit the wheels, it flew very well and is ready to go come the warm weather ,still out flying my winter hack for now