Flite Test Edge 540 Aerobatic Electric Airplane Kit (1016mm)

This was probably the best purchase I have ever made from Filtetest! It flies amazing! Maybe a bit more strength in the motor mount and it would be perfect!! 10/10 would and will buy again!
:)

I received this kit with the C power pack. The build process was very fun and just the right amount of challenge. If you are new to these quick build kits, i would recommend building some of the simpler planes such as the Simple Cub, or even the FT 3D before attempting this build. There are a few complex folds to do with this kit. Other than that, the rest of the build is pretty straight forward. The Video is pretty good, but some of the steps seemed to be out of order, or a tip was thought of after the build step was shown, so i would recommend watching the whole video once through before doing the build. Then use the video as you build. The flight of this plane is amazing! I am cheating a bit though, I am using the AS3X receiver from my wrecked Visionaire in this, so I have a ton of crisp control for 3D flight. This is a must have for any intermediate or advanced pilot if you want the performance of a wonderful 3D plane. Great job to Andres Lu on the design of this kit. Keep it up, you have a great future! Can't wait to see what else you come up with! And thank you to everyone at FliteTest. You have really made this hobby accessible to most who may have never thought it was affordable, or approachable.

Thank you
Sean Hicks
Keep making memories!!

Excellent design, easy to build, everything fit together perfectly. I used larger wheels (2.5" dia). Flies great too, on a 4 cell, 3 cell it's o.k. Best plane ever from F.T.

I've built about a dozen different flitetest planes and this was the most complicated, not that it was particularly challenging. I'm so confused by this plane. Andres says he wanted a lighter wing loading than the FT3D, this is about the same. I knew that before I built it so I was light on glue, after some paint, still ended up heavier than spec because I had to use extra glue when I cut the fuse and canopy apart to move the wings back 2" to get the CG to work. I have the original EMAX 2215 "C" pack motor with a 10x4.7 and this thing can barely hover. Got my 1300 3S 30-40C battery warm. 3D planes are supposed to have 1.5-2X thrust:weight ratio and this ended up being about 1:1. I could put a faster/smaller prop and motor on it but then it won't 3D. I can't add enough motor or battery to overcome the weight of this pig. That said, it flew great for about 2-3 minutes, while the voltage was high enough-as long as I wasn't doing anything I couldn't do in the tiny trainer. After running 3 batteries through it I'm taking the electronics out.
Cons:Tail heavy, just plain heavy, overly complicated design
Pros: Looks cool, flies like a really slow, well controlled trainer for a couple minutes
Going to try the FT3D or profile 3D plane...something lighter than the 30 oz this is.

I spent almost all my money to buy this plane and a new transmitter for it and when it arrived, I spent around 6 to 7 hours putting it together over a few days. It was just recently when I finished building it and decided to fly it for the first time. I was amazed at how well it flew, and how strong it was even though it is made of foam. this plane is my second one, and the first that I have bought that does not have SAFE technology, or something to keep it from crashing. I had a couple of successful flights with it, however, on my third flight of it though, the plane nose dived into the ground from about 6 metres and at around 60% throttle, due to the fact that I was flying in very low light and did not know weather it was upside down or not. I went to examine it though, and all that had happened to it was a broken propeller, a crinkled front and the motor mount had become very wobbly. I was amazed though at how easy it was to fix though, and after about 10 minutes, I had the plane back in flying condition, with the help of some hot glue.

I am extremely happy with this purchase, as this plane flies great, and is very durable, even though it is made out of foam board. I bought the c pack motor with this, and found to work very well, and the fact that you put it together adds a lot more satisfaction to this project. as long as you are a relatively experienced pilot, I would highly recommend this, and I will be sure to by from this site again.

The FT Edge is the best Flite Test 3D airplane I have ever had. I love 3D flying and this airplane does almost every 3D maneuver great. I love it!

If you are browsing the comments and want to know if you should build this, the answer is yes. Do you fly planes? Even better.

I built one from the free plans and am halfway through my second one with a better paint scheme and a few upgrades. Here is what I learned. 3M Super 77 for your paper adhesive? Yes (but go light)

The free plans are awesome. So I bought a motor from FT. Its more powerful than a similarly spec'd motor from dys/turnigy/other 'not quite the cheapest amazon stuff'. And its comes in a nice box. Also, I really felt like I owed Andres and the team something. Its that great.

If you are thinking that its going to look great, you are absolutely right - even unpainted. You should decide right now that you are going to reinforce the motor mount as some builders have said. And I will clarify here. Having replaced the front end 4 times, the motor mount is not the weakest link. Its actually the platform below the motor mount and the wall behind the motor mount (nose former). Its very easy to reinforce these with some of the scrap material. I found that doubling up (on the bottom) the thickness of the section below the internal fuselage structure from the nose former forward and gluing two ribs down to fuse former 1 did the job. Negligible additional weight. I rebuilt my front end 4 times and never had to replace the cowling, to give you an idea of how easy it is to rip the engine out without crashing. (This comes mostly from hard landings in my case).

On that note, I also agree with the comments about the landing gear. Its basically a big deformable shock absorber that does a split on most (of my) landings. I tend to plop down more than run out since I fly only on snow or grass. I was surprised how many times I bent mine back into shape with no fatigue issues though, so maybe it literally IS a shock absorber, and that's okay.

On my round two I glued a small straw in between the hatch side doublers where you place the skewer (on the circly bits). This will serve as a guide for the skewer and save you from poking and searching blindly around your receiver and wires for the other side of the plane. This one can be done after the build is complete if you decide it sounds right for you.

I cant tell you how many times I felt like this was a more gratifying and more clever design than most balsa builds I have done. Also, I will happily trade CA fumes and my phone not recognizing my hard glue thumb for hot glue.

I also put in some reinforcement on all of my control surface hinges on my second round, but was pleasantly surprised at how long the glue hinges actually lasted. Still not long enough, so I used a reinforced tape and pinned it through as close to the hinge as possible.

Oh, and I also enjoy flying it.


STAR STAR STAR STAR STAR

Really fun plane to fly. Not a true 3D platform, but very nimble all the same. Despite this, it cruises along at low speed fantastically and with very low rates could be mistaken for a trainer.

Scratch building is a bear as there are many small precision cuts to make. One of those sitations where. Speed build kit would be worth it for most people.

Major criticism is the landing gear. Dont even waste your time with it, engineer your own fix or fly without it.

While this is not a suggested first timer scratch build due to some tough bends in the nose and canopy, it is a fun and challenging build to do. I lawn darted my first one due to a poor choice in paint colors that made it impossible to tell if it was upside down or right-side up from a distance, but after cutting it in half and building a new front end, she was back in the air, no problem. I wish I could post a picture in the reviews to show my experience! If you are scratch building this, expect to spend at least 3 hours getting it cut out, and about 3 hours building it minimum for a nice job. I suggest a 3mm carbon fiber rod split in two as a spar cut and glued into the length of the elevator rather than the Popsicle stick to give it more rigidity. Cheers to the guys here at flight test for this one!

What an amazing plane!

The build process is broken down into simple steps, this is the first build I have attempted and I had very little difficulty building it. The only preparation work I had done is a little bit of practising on cutting the edges/lines like the control surfaces.

She is a BIG plane and is currently hanging from my ceiling (as I have no where else to put her).

As I am a beginner, I have not maiden-ed her yet. but I am working up to it. i have heard that she flies amazing though.

If you love model planes you NEED this in your collection!

I got my plane from my local hobby town. I built the plane to what i can. parts in the kit are to small or doing properly fit ( cowling, vertical stab, and some other smaller parts. The build video is rushed and hard to keep up with and understand. I have built many FT planes and love them with how easy they are to build, but this plane with the incorrect parts and rushed video make this plane hard to work with.