February is a little early to be handing out the plane of the year award, but that might be fait accompli already. It's a 3DHS plane and it's an Edge. That's going to be tough to beat, even for 3DHS!
3DHS returns to the mid sized market with the biggest bang possible in the 52" Edge 540. We all want more 3DHS planes in our fleet, and this one is just the start. There will be another 52" later in the year, so it's going to be a big year for fans of the 4-5' span planes.
This plane has so much going for it that it had to be posted in it's own article: 3DHS 52" Edge__Had To Happen. Lots there, right? A lot of people will build this plane simply because it's a 3DHS plane, but also it's a thoroughbred Edge 540.
For me, this particular Edge is something special. It's just racy looking. The color scheme looks fast and the entire plane looks slimmed down. It's not, but the straight lines and angles of the color scheme lend themselves perfectly to this plane, making it appear sleeker. This is a great looking plane, and it's nice to have something a bit different from the seemingly mandatory "scale" aerobatic plane appearance.
One thing especially worth pointing out is the contrast between the color scheme on the top and that of the bottom. The top has got a lot of white, which makes the plane bright on a sunny day, and the blue and red provides enough contrast even under cloudy skies that you can hardly lose track of what the plane is doing. When you roll the plane over it's got beautiful gold and black checkers, kind of like what a racing plane should look like, Not only is this plane easy to see in all conditions, but the racing styled canopy and wing tips complete the competition look.
I'm going to admit straight up that some of this section is copy/paste from my previous Edge articles because the flying qualities are extremely similar. It's and Edge, so it's going to fly like one, only this one is the practical and affordable 52" size that delivers surprising performance with each new release.
In general, the Edge is a nice, smooth, easy flying plane. It is probably the easiest plane to harrier of any of them, and the best choice for learning 3D on. However, it's also capable enough that even the most experienced pilots enjoy flying it.
The outstanding feature of the Edge design is the straight leading edge (LE) of it's wing. This goes a long way to eliminating wing tip stall, and in dampening wing rock in harrier and elevator maneuvers. The straight LE also helps keep the wings level in high rotation maneuvers such as walls and parachutes. This has always made the Edge design a 3D favorite. Of all the planes I have flown, the Edge is the most solid in harrier, and in elevators. What I have always loved most about the Edge is how comfortably it allows you to fly extreme Kamikaze 3D with total confidence. This was enough for me, but newer EXP and 3DHS Edges blow the envelope wide open by doing very nice precision work as well. This is the most stable 52" yet, with a long tail moment, huge stabilizers, and tall fuselages with a wide, flat bottom. Add to that the huge, stability inducing side force generators (SFG) and you've got a plane that flies very smoothly and locked in.
This plane goes and stays exactly where you put it, which gets even better with the DS100 servo's superb centering. Then, when you do want them to turn, roll, yaw or snap hard, the Edge has huge control surfaces with lots of movement to give you great control authority. Not only does the stability keep you out of trouble, but you can push the airplane extremely hard and it will never lose it's composure. We've seen this before in first, the original 3DHS Edges, and then the EXP series Edges, so this was no surprise, and I was expecting this kind of sure footedness.
The Edge does conventional aerobatics with ridiculous ease. It will roll, loop, snap, spin, and do basic maneuvers with as much ease as nearly any sport plane, but the real surprise comes with KE, point rolls, and other precision maneuvers. The entire EXP series really shines here, and much of this has to be due to 3DHS' excellent pedigree in IMAC and precision competition. You end up with a plane that is smooth and stable enough for precision pattern and IMAC work, yet still agile enough to do every 3D move in the book. The Edge tracks like an arrow, but is as agile as anything I have ever flown..........the best of both worlds.
Harrier Performance
All the Big X company's planes harrier exceptionally well. The Edge is just the best one of them for this. Using a conventional set up of 50 degrees of elevator travel, they are all pretty similar, though the Edge 540T has zero wing rock at all times no matter how sloppy you get with it. All of them are absolutely excellent, but the Edge 540T has the.....uhhhh, edge here.
First, as noted before, the straight LE of the wing makes for an exceptionally stable platform that doesn't tip stall and won't rock. The pilot can still induce a bit of rock if his form is sloppy enough, but the big side force generators (SFG) kill that almost instantly. The stability in harrier with the Edge 540 is almost obscene. The plane is a joy to just drag around with the nose way up in the air, and she will turn very hard like this on the rudder. This just makes it so much easier that doing extreme 3D with the Edge 540T EXP is almost like, well .... cheating.
Pitch Maneuvers
Also, in super hard pitch rotations such as in walls and parachutes, you know the Edge wings will go where you point them. You can do high intensity, low level parachutes at ridiculously low altitudes, simply because after one of two of them, you have that kind of confidence in the airplane. You can go lower and lower knowing she will pop to flat with her wings level every time. At some point, though, that's low enough, though I have actually popped a parachute and rode it into a perfect 3 point landing with this plane.
It's the same thing with wall maneuvers. You know you can hammer the stick back and the plane will rotate with the wings level until you let go. Again, the straight LE keeps the wings where you want them, so the Edge won't fall off to one side or roll where you don't want it to go. The last thing you want is to drop a wing towards the pits when you pull the nose to straight vertical and dead stall the plane right on the deck, which is why you don't want to try that unless you have a plane that gives you the kind of confidence the Edge does.
All the 3DHS/Extreme Flight family of planes will do a great waterfall, but the Edge has the advantage here. It will whip the tail hard around the wing tube in a waterfall maneuver. The Edge though, takes a little less rudder correction and tracks through it straighter. The waterfall just seems to be easier with this plane.
KE Spin
Knife edge spins with the Edge 540T EXP are criminally easy. You simply put in full left rudder, full down elevator, about 20% throttle and 1/8 left aileron. For effect, full throttle makes it more dramatic, but it is tougher on the equipment, especially the battery. The Edge just falls into a beautiful KE spin with the tail snapping over and over, and the Xpwr 3910 screaming it's guts out. You can manipulate the throttle from there, but it seems at about 1/4 power you get an absolutely tortured growl out of the prop that makes it sound like the whole airplane is coming apart!
The best part is, provided your CG is close, that you can enter the KE spin from just about any attitude or speed and the plane doesn't care. Like this you can turn a conventional spin into a KE one, or enter from a stall turn, outside loop or ever from upright level flight. My favorite is to enter from a pop top by reversing the elevator and applying a little opposite rudder. You have to get the timing right, but for me that's the most seamless and interesting way to do it. With some entries it will wallow about a bit first, but it always goes in if you just leave the sticks there.
I like to enter from the top of an outside loop because it flows right in. It looks like an outside loop, only you surprise onlookers by dropping it right in as she comes over the top. Since the transition is so seamless and there is no waiting, I can enter a KE spin at a pretty low level, get a couple of rotations and fly away right on the deck. The Edge comes out of the KE spin just as soon as you release the sticks, so you can get low pretty confidently.
I like to go to full power right before I know I am coming out. This gives me a lot of airflow over the controls, because remember, the wing is absolutely dead stalled and has no forward momentum at this point. When I want the plane to stop rotating, I release the controls and still hold just a smidge of down elevator....... and she will fly out inverted. You are holding down elevator anyway, and to me it looks smoother to fly her out on her back. The trick is to release the controls when she is pointed the direction you want her to fly out in, but that is just a timing thing you have to work on, and I still mess it up more often than I would like.
Knife Edge Flight
I like Side Force Generators (SGFs), though the Edge is the one plane that needs them the least. The Edge's harrier manners are so good that the SFGs don't improve them much, though you can definitely feel the difference in knife edge (KE) flight. Actually, I think they add stability all the way around, and I like to use them on all my planes.
Lots of planes squirm around, act unstable and all in KE, not to mention they don't fly in a straight line. This is no problem with any 3DHS/Extreme Flight plane. None of them need SFGs, but the added lift helps so much in KE flight they are extremely useful to have. The SFGs also add lift in rolling maneuvers and makes the plane a bit more floaty in things like rolling harriers.
Chris and Ben work really hard to get any kind of yaw or roll coupling out of these planes and it's paid off. KE flight is not an instinctual thing when you are trying to learn it, and if the plane couples and doesn't fly straight in this attitude it can kill your confidence. With this plane, though, you can see how much confidence you can get out of a plane that flies KE in stable, straight line.
Precision
Here's the big surprise: the Edge gives up nothing in precision. She will slow and point roll as well as any of them, though she will not snap as cleanly with her straight LE as a tapered wing will. You can get most of the back by changing your snap timing. The Edge does big, graceful big sky maneuvers nearly as well as the benchmark Extra, and tumbles nearly as well as the Slick. The Edge features enough stability it nearly that outweighs anything it gives up to those two. It's also a lot like those two in that her performance is extremely well balanced, if toward the stability side just a little. Anything the Edge gives up in precision is minuscule, and a good pilot can make that up with smooth, precise flying.
Nail
All day long, this is a thoroughbred Edge. It's easy flying nature will delight the newer 3D pilots and her precision manners will satisfy the more experienced guys. Generally I am an Extra kind of guy, but the Edge is probably the one plane that will suit almost everyone.
The Edge's place is much the same as the Extra and Slick, though it's performance is biased a little more toward having impeccable 3D manners, though it still doesn't give up much to those in the precision arena. For all out insane 3D, the Edge is the plane to have, especially if you are still working on your skills. The added stability is invaluable in stalled and near stalled conditions makes the Edge the absolute king of pure 3D.
