3D JAG's 35% Carden Edge

sensei said:

Maybe there is a lighter tail wheel setup available, not a bling, bling one, just a lighter one. Does this have a carbon, or an aluminum stab tube? There may be an advantage by going with a little thinner wall carbon tube over the stock aluminum tube if that is what still being used. Thinning the foam in the turtle deck to around 1/2" thickness throughout can reduce allot of weight aft of the C/G. Trimming out just the canopy and sheeting the canopy deck, then covering with Monokote and gluing on the canopy is also a great way to save weight aft on the C/G. One last thing, any weight you remove from the wing and ailerons is still generally aft of the C/G and going overall in the right direction.

I do hope you meet your goal and wish you the very best,

Bob

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Thanks for all the tips. I have looked over many of your builds to get ideas for loosing weight on this one. I'm going to re-cover where I have cut out and see where I'm at. I'm hoping I'm close. If not then I'll re-think about what's next.

The tail wheel assembly is only 3oz. I couldn't find one that was much less than that, and they were expensive. It does have an aluminum stab tube but from the research I did, it was worth going to a carbon tube for weight purposes.

Got the fuse and rudder covered. Just need to put the receiver, satellites, and batteries back in and it will be ready to hang up and check the CG again. Not sure if I'll get to it today or not.

Looks good. No time to waste though. Get her back in the air.

Well I hung the plane back on the Vanessa rig today. Removing the 10oz of weight from the tail moved the CG 1". So I was at 7.25" when I started today. From their I tried many things to try and get to the recommended CG of 5.5" - 6.25". I moved all three batteries on top of the motor box. This brought it to 6.875". I currently do not have a good set of wheel pants, but put all the pieces on top of the wheels to simulate adding them back on. That brought the CG to 6.75". I also tried spacing the motor out another 1/4" but that didn't help much at all and looked stupid with that much gap behind the spinner, so I moved it back. So that is where I'm at right now.

Just as a last ditch effort to see where it would come out, I added the 24oz of lead that came on the plane back on. I put it on the outside of the motor box. This brought it down to 6.25".

So I think what I'm going to do is take the lead back off, add a new set of wheel pants, and fly it at 6.75". It should be manageable. Heck it flew at 8.25" except for the dead stick landing.

I want to see how it flies then put a plan together for the winter. I'll probabaly do some more lightening in the tail on the fuse sides and maybe some work on the Aielerons. I also will probably move the receiver and wiring all up in from of the wing tube. I could also get rid of the SWB rudder tray and build a single servo mount, moving the rudder servo closer to the CG in the process.

Wow very nice!

Good job!

As a data point for me, do you have an all up weight on the Edge?

Thanks in advance,

Bob

sensei said:

Good job!

As a data point for me, do you have an all up weight on the Edge?

Thanks in advance,

Bob

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I meant to weight it yesterday when I had it all together and forgot. I'll do that next time I get it all together and let you know. I was thinking the first time I weighed it was close to 31lbs (on a bathroom scale). But that was before I did any weight reduction.

Well finally got my wheel pants in and installed. They still need some paint but I don't care. Just wanted to fly it. And well got the CG nailed after the weight removal with no added weight. And boy does it fly awesome. Got in 3 great flights. @capthis took some video and I'll post when he gets it loaded up.

I love this plane. Flies so smooth and precise. Only thing I noticed was a small hesitation in the engine when rolled inverted while climbing. So ill bed to get that figured out.

Hey @JAG
Glad you're getting your CG issues worked out. Now you can just have fun and fly it like you stole it. . . . .

I love all the sanding marks on the cowl. Makes me think of Days of Thunder when they say rubbings racing.