CARF Edge 540 2.6m 35% 240000
Dominating a lot of today’s AirRaces, the Edge 540 has gained more and more popularity. Unfortunately most model airplane manufacturers seem to only know the forward swept wings as the very defining feature of an Edge 540. But that‘s not true. Many modelers are fascinated by its particular shape of the fuselage with the huge fin and the smooth cowling.
Well, another challenge for CARF Models to take on. We designed our brand new Edge 540 from the ground up. It’s definitely NOT an Extra with modified cowling and tail, as you can see so often... We used original drawings from the full-scale to create a solid model with modern CAD techniques.
The scale fuselage is very large, in particular compared to other 2.6m planes on the market today! The cowling is so wide that a regular 150 cc engine would fit under it. But of course, the smartest way will be a 120cc flat twin to keep the plane lightweight. For sure, you’ll get the best flight performance with that setup. A 85cc single cylinder engine with tuned pipe might be sufficient regarding the power, but you can get in trouble with the CG. Always remember, because of its particular wing geometry, it’s nearly impossible to become too nose heavy with this plane!
As of early 2014, the CARF Models Edge 540 has received a modification to its wings, adding skin hinged ailerons instead of the centre hinged ones, making them even lighter for better flight performance.
If you are looking for an Edge 540 which really deserves that name, you’re right at CARF Models once again! Get this ultimate 3D-machine right now and share the joy.
Fuselage and Cowling:
The fuselage is very wide and pretty scale. It has the proper cross sections from cowl to tail, so that the shape itself makes it already very stiff. All is sandwich laminated and the two crucial formers behind the cockpit and inside the fin are installed in the moulds, too. The gear mount is a strong aircraft grade plywood piece, glued in and reinforced with glass and carbon where necessary. The cowling consists of an upper and lower half, it can be taken off without having to remove spinner and propeller. It provides very good access to the cowling area, especially to mount batteries as far forward as possible to achieve a nose-heavy CG is required. Even though the wing tube sits quite high in the fuselage, there is still room above it for a large fuel tank, which allows you to install canisters or full pipes with no restrictions, whatsoever.
Wings:
The CARF-Models Edge 540 wings have received a fundamental upgrade. As we thought for a while, center hinged ailerons were the way to go on 2.6m airframes, too. Over time, we had to understand that the weight penalty which came with it, for some pilots outweighed the advantage of better symmetry and higher roll rates. To us, it always was in balance between pro's and con's. What finally helped us to decide to return to the skin hinged ailerons was not only the weight savings, but also the reduced manufacturing efforts, allowing more attractive schemes because no paint lines had to be matched between wing and ailerons in the complicated painting-in-the-mold process. Last but not least, the lighter wing allowed us to go back to dual aileron servos, just as proven very effective with our other new 2.6m designs Extra 330SC and SU-31.
Tail:
The stabs, elevators and fin are designed in the classic CARF style. Center hinged elvevators and rudder, well dimensioned aluminum tube joiners and brass hinge pins. The stabs have a mounting place for one elevator servo, and the rudder tray (milled wood part assembly) provides room for two servos. All tail surfaces are especially checked for an extreme light weight build due to the critical CG situation with the forward swept wing of any Edge 540.
Engine:
Don't worry about weight in the nose. Go with a good and solid 120 cc twin engine and you will have a lot of fun with this airplane. Canisters are sufficient at the predicted weight of the airplane, and all sorts of different canister mounts, tank trays etc are included in the kit. We do not recommend the use of a single cylinder engine because it the weight benefit is not doing any good for the large plane. If you look at the fuselage, this CARF Edge 540 could easily compete with some of the wooden 40%ers out there and that's why a good power plant is mandatory in order to have the most fun with it.
