Guillows Edge 540 rc electric

[Bill Gaylord]

After the AG Crusader scratch build I just completed I could really use a break, so this nice little laser cut kit should fit well.

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[mustangman]

HI bill What type of covering do you use? I have a guillows stearman that was a control line plane .I took all the covering off and now I'am gonna convert it to electric rc or electric control line!I have to order some parts from guillows though for it.Mark

[mustangman]

It is built real well but need tlc!

[Bill Gaylord]

Hi Mark,

I've been using Coverite Microlite on these small planes for some years. You can even paint it, unlike they recommend. It will wrinkle, but usually shrinks taut when dry, with any remaining wrinkles removed with a high power hair dryer or very careful heat gun at a distance. I almost bought a nice old ply firewall Guillows Sterman on Ebay the other day, and probably will in time. There's an older veteran on the next block that I talk to who used to fly them, and has been motivating me to build them. For covering, you can't get the tails on some planes light enough, and the Stearman fits that category. I would Coverite Microlite iron-on, and just live with the bit of transparency. At it's size, I'd probably use Parklite covering rather than painting if I were to not want any transparent look, but I still like to use Microlite and add a light coat of paint sometimes, as it's so easy to use and shrinking is effortless. I used it on the Guillows Camel, which really needs a light tail and all gear mounted forward, for rc.

This build will be either sheeted or inset planked, which should add a good bit to the robustness. I did add a few laminated stringers to reinforce the cross grain on the firewall and landing gear formers. It is a well designed kit, and only needs a few modifications for rc. Offhand the other main mod I can think of will be to route a continuous wing spar across the wing panels. The design already has plug in spars that appear to use 3/32" square stringer stock, which will probably be perfect for use as a continuous wing spar across the fuse. Substituting CF rod for one of the plug-in spars is a likely thought for how that will be done, and the round rods can be sized to fit perfectly in the square holes already on the model. The rods can be joined in the fuse center by overlapping a length of aluminum tubing on the CF rods.

Speaking of TLC, I just thought of a bit of electrical TLC when working on the model. It's been a while since I used any linear servos, and almost forgot to grab a diode from the drawer, to lower the 5V BEC voltage by 0.6-0.7V. The micro linear servos seem to live with voltages up to 4.4V, but they don't like 5V. I started doing the diode mod a few years ago, when Spektrum did not have a bl brick, and the BEC voltage had to be reduced if using an external BL ESC with 2s lipo.

[Bill Gaylord]

Onto the wings and tail surfaces next. I doubt I'll have any problem balancing this plane. I may be adding a light sub floor under the battery door, as the battery may be located under the door and not in the forward fuse area.

[Bill Gaylord]

The wing panels are now constructed. The stock LE wood was not bad, but one was just a bit heavier than I'd like, and the other had slight evidence of knotholes, which can weaken the wood. Shaping LEs made of somewhat hard wood is not fun. Since I had a good section of the same size spar on hand, I cut new LEs from it.

The ailerons were made using what has become a favorite method, which is to cut the header formers and fit them into the wing, as a tab-and-slot fit. The only difficult part is cutting the tapered headers, as you want them sized almost perfectly. They can be decked afterward with a block, but you want to minimize the amount of decking needed, since the process tends to sand the wing formers also if your not careful, which is not desired. Once the aileron framing is glued in place, the finished ailerons can simply be cut away from the wing.

[Bill Gaylord]

Ready for the least exciting part: covering.

[Bill Gaylord]

Covering these small fuse with Microlite gives you a bit of a break, as they can easily be done using one sheet per side. It's still my least favorite task though. The sides of the cowl were build up with a few layers of thick CA to fill a small recessed area, sanding each layer smooth, and finally sanding several coats of high build primer. The cowl-fuse fit seems pretty good now. I was really impressed with the canopy, as it was trimmed at the factory trimming edge and fits perfectly.

[Wildpig]

Looking really nice!
Just curiou, what is the weight of the model now? Without motor and battery.

[Bill Gaylord]

Looking really nice!
Just curiou, what is the weight of the model now? Without motor and battery.

Thanks
The tail feathers are now on the plane, at the time I read your post, and the gear has been in the fuse for some time, but for what it's worth I can give a weight of the covered fuse/cowl/landing gear/wheels/tail feathers/tail servos/ESC/receiver/aileron servo y-harness at 1.75oz. Removing the gear would probably give a weight of around 1-1/8oz, for the covered fuse/cowl/tail/landing gear with wheels. After building a number of these models, I track weight much less and simply build using proven methods, such as selecting light weight 1/32" sheeting and building to avoid ballast, which is easy to do with this particular model due to favorable proportions for balancing like a P51.

To give some idea of what these Guillows planes fly like as rc conversions, there is a considerable difference between the allowable AUW at 16", 20", and 24" span models. For the 16" models, 90gms is about the limit for a decent flyer, which is the weight that my FW190 is at. My Stuka is around 55gms, and could be flown by anyone beyond the beginner stage. At 20" span, a model can fly well at 4.5oz. I have an EDF30 Vampire at around 4oz that is an easy to fly floater at that weight, and have gone closer to 5oz at 20" span with reasonable results. At 24" span, I've gone as high as 6.5oz with the Guillows Cessna 150, and had a decent flyer. The plane now has a lighter motor and batt, and is very easy to fly now at 5.2oz, with just rud/elev control. I even flew the 24" Cub once at around 9oz!

Much of the reason people have difficulty getting these small planes to fly at weight, is due to the lack of tolerance in the models. Misaligned/warped flying surfaces and props angles will make the model difficult to fly or unflyable, but they fly well once dialed in. When I first started at this, I could remember a number of people advising that small models would never fly well at the weights that I've flown them at. I found that experience modelers give advice on what works and how to make something work, versus the common discouragement that we're so used to hearing.

[Bill Gaylord]

I found a $4 3-blade chrome spinner at the LHS that looked like it may work on the Edge. It had to be cut down a bit with custom notches cut for the prop, for a decent fit. For attachment, I threaded a brass rivet with a close tap size, and then used a spare prop shaft to clean up the thread. A cross-cut in the rivet head allows for a flat head screwdriver to be used for tightening. I may use this method in the future for attaching spinners with threaded prop shafts.

[zoltron55]

I thought you were in Harrisburg. if you are in grove city e-mail me, if not I'm going to a kit car show in hershey middle of may. lets hook up & fly some stuff

[Bill Gaylord]

I thought you were in Harrisburg. if you are in grove city e-mail me, if not I'm going to a kit car show in hershey middle of may. lets hook up & fly some stuff

I'm in Grove City. Probably mixed me up with almost everyone else on these forums that lives in PA, as they all seem to be on the east side of the state. I'm one of the few near you, and I regularly visit a friend in the "Burgh who grew up right on the opposite side of the slags from you. We'll have to fly at the ball field near where you live sometime.

The Edge is close to complete, with the ailerons to assemble and battery door to fabricate. The battery will sit under the door for balance, so it was no problem adding a 3gm pilot for added detail. I cut the bottom plate out of the Williams Brothers pilots, which shaves a bit of weight. I'd prefer a lighter Guillows pilot, but don't have any on hand. I'll have to order a few of the small Guillows pilots for my small models.

[Bill Gaylord]

Finished at 120gms AUW, which has worked well for models this size in the past. A lighter spinner, prop adapter, prop, pilot, and battery could have been used to lighten the model, but I accept the weight for the added detail. The paint coat also added some weight, but adds to the appearance of the model, as the covering was partially transparent. I may likely keep the simple red scheme, as I like the conservative look. It may look overdone with decals added.

[ADW 123]

Looks great... really tempting to go for an r/c build on that one myself....