General Information

Dominating many of today’s air races, the Edge 540 has gained increasing popularity.  Unfortunately, most model airplane manufacturers seem to know only the forward-swept wings as the defining feature of an Edge 540.  But that's not true. Many modelers are fascinated by its fuselage shape, with the huge fin and 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 full-scale drawings 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 choice is a 120cc flat twin to keep the plane lightweight. You’ll get the best flight performance with that setup. An 85cc single-cylinder engine with a tuned pipe might be sufficient for power, but you can run into CG issues. Always remember, because of its particular wing geometry, it’s nearly impossible to become too nose-heavy with this plane!
 
As of early 2014, CARF Models has modified the Edge 540's wings, adding skin-hinged ailerons instead of center-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 the shape itself makes it very stiff. All is sandwich laminated, and the two crucial formers behind the cockpit and inside the fin are installed in the molds, too. The gear mount is a strong aircraft-grade plywood piece, glued in and reinforced with glass and carbon where necessary. The cowling has an upper and lower half; you can remove it without removing the spinner and propeller. It provides excellent access to the cowling area, especially for mounting batteries as far forward as possible to achieve a nose-heavy CG when 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 accept that, for some pilots, the weight penalty outweighed the advantage of better symmetry and higher roll rates. For us, it was always a balance of pros and cons. What finally helped us decide to return to the skin-hinged ailerons was not only the weight savings, but also the reduced manufacturing effort, which allowed 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 let us go back to dual aileron servos, which proved very effective on our other new 2.6m designs, the Extra 330SC and SU-31.

Tail

The stabs, elevators and fin are designed in the classic CARF style. The elevators and rudder are center-hinged, with 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 extremely light-weight build due to the critical CG situation with the forward-swept wing of any Edge 540.

Engine

Don't worry about nose weight. 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, and the kit includes all sorts of canister mounts, tank trays, etc. We do not recommend a single-cylinder engine because the weight benefit does not help a 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.