Aeroplus 111" Edge 540 V3 assembly

[Pancake]

I thought I would share my experience building my new Aeroplus 111" Edge 540 V3.

To begin, www.milehighrc.com is graciously sponsoring this endeavor. They are now the sole US distributor of Aeroplus airframes. Mike needed a local Team pilot to help spread the word and make some flight videos, and after some "vetting" by Aeroplus and Bull Engines I was fortunate enough to get the position!

That said, I'm going to be as objective and honest as possible throughout!

The airframes comes with all carbon wing tubes, painted gear, and a painted carbon spinner. Aeroplus also generously supplies free wood for any crash damage same as Pilot RC. Hopefully I won't have to take them up on this feature! The airframe came well packaged and was in perfect condition when I picked it up. There were some wrinkles in the covering as you would expect with any modern ARF. The ailerons, elevators, and rudder are all pre-hinged. The hardware, ball links, phenolic horns, linkages, and bolts are all what you would expect in a quality ARF. The wheels have nice aluminum hubs, and a nice looking tailwheel.

 

[Pancake]

The landing gear and tailwheel went together without any fuss, with the exception of the main axles, which I replaced with DuBro. I added some plywood backers in the pants for spacing and to give the pant mounts some extra strength.

I decided to go with a full HV setup and high torque servos to move those giant surfaces! I ordered a pair of HS 7950s for each of the ailerons, with 2 more for the rudder and a 7980 for each elevator half. I got a 7954 in a trade and will be using it for throttle.

The BE 124 came well packed, and looks like any Chinese engine. The castings aren't bad, the machine parts look awesome. I like the dual rings, and after reading a bunch of positive reviews I have high hopes for this engine. I'm going to use the same prop I have on my DA 120 for an apples to apples RPM comparison once its broken in and tuned.

 

[Pancake]

Installing the servos and engine was straight forward. There were templates for several standard engines.

I did end up having to open up the servo holes in the stabs for the mega-torque 7980s. I used a dremel tool and Roto-zip bit. It was tricky, but I manages not to make too big a mess! I decided to use the included 2+" servo arms for the elevators and rudder.

 

[Pancake]

Did I mention the airframe came with a fully assembled fuel tank? Well, it did! I have heard of some leaks from other AP owners, so I did a pressure test using my fuel pump and closing the vent line with a full tank. So far, no leaks.

I decided to use my old Smart-Fly EQ10 with a pin switch for power distribution. I purchased a Tech-Aero IBEC for my ignition.

I did discover a slight misalignment between the cowl ring and the first bulkhead. I ended up using two of the leftover plywood doughnuts as spacers between the top of the ring and firewall.

 

[Pancake]

Pics of some bench flying I did the 2nd day I had it. This thing is huge! Almost 9' long spinner to tail.
I programmed all the servos through the SF EQ10. It went faster than I thought it would. I have over 10" of throw on the ailerons! That equates to about 40 degrees full-bang. Plenty with these barn doors! These Aileron are better than 1/3 of the chord!

 

[Pancake]

Finishing touches include baffling the engine and opening up the air inlets. I used dollar store foam board for the bottom baffle, and some EPP packing foam for the top baffle. It needed some flex to get the mufflers through their holes. This took much longer than I thought! I went through about 5 templates before I got it right.

I also ordered some graphics from Callie-graphics.com to match the full scale counterpart. Hopefully they will be here soon!

 

[pawnshopmike]

Cool plane and great build thread. Nice job bro.

 

[Snoopy1]

Built one Aerplus pretty good plane to assemble. It is 20cc size and looks good. Just was not able to get it up into the air before the winter. But it is ready to go as soon as I get the chance the plane will be up. Be interesting to see how it flys.

 

[Snoopy1]

Finishing touches include baffling the engine and opening up the air inlets. I used dollar store foam board for the bottom baffle, and some EPP packing foam for the top baffle. It needed some flex to get the mufflers through their holes. This took much longer than I thought! I went through about 5 templates before I got it right.

I also ordered some graphics from Callie-graphics.com to match the full scale counterpart. Hopefully they will be here soon!

You did a nice job on the baffling it is not always that easy.

 

[Pancake]

My order from www.Callie-graphics.com came in. Everything is perfect except I gave her the wrong dimensions on the G-SHOCK, and my butterfingers dropped the red part of the flag on the port side. Landed sticky side down in a pile of 3" deep Mahogany dust.... One of the hazards of having a working cabinet shop!

I'm sure I will have the new graphics by the end of next week. Its been in the 20s around here at night, and the new snow doesn't seem to be going anywhere, so no rush!