56" Edge 540 and Slick 540 Electric
Specifications:

Wing Span:
Length:
Weight:
Wing area:
Suggested Motor:
56"
48" rudder to spinner
44oz. RTF without battery
525 sq. in.
HD 3542-6/.46 glow equiv..

Introducing the Wild Hare Edge-540E, a new fun electric power plane that is built “like the big guys”.

 

Over the years I have attempted to put together several electric fun/3D/aerobatic planes to have something I can throw in my car and fly when I feel like it. But I have been disappointed at every turn. There was always one or more of these problems;

Planes were too small and too delicate, they didn’t fly well because of their lightness and/or lack of power. Power systems are always a mystery with no really good information on what to expect causing a simple fun plane to turn into a costly R&D project to find what motor/prop/ESC works.

I decided to solve this problem with my own product.
The new Edge-540E is 56” wing span with 525 square. inches of wing area. It weighs 2.75 lbs ready to fly without a battery and 3.5 lbs including a 4s3300 Lipo battery pack, ready to fly. It is scaled down from our 88” Edge and has many of the same features plus some new ones that are specifically suited for electric power.

The Slick 540 version is the same plane but with double-taper wings. Both leading and trailing edges are swept, unlike the Edge which has a perfectly straight leading edge. I find the Slick version to be slightly more stable while the Edge is slightly better suited to 3D type flying.

The bottom 4 photos to the right show the Slick version of the plane.

This little beauty has a fiberglass cowl and wheel pants. The cowl mounts on a cowl ring and is pre-installed, looks great and works just like the big Edge.

The pre-installed and drilled motor mount firewall accepts a wide variety of motors. Just bolt it on. A variety of pre-drilled spacers are provided with the kit to allow for adjustment of motor position.

The carbon fiber landing gear is strong and light, beautifully made. The tail surfaces are keyed so they are automatically aligned correctly. It has a very flexible servo configuration, use either standard servo or mini’s for elevators and rudder.

Like our larger planes the Edge has a full length top hatch, but in recognition of the fact that the hatch must come off to change flight batteries it has has a quick release latch PLUS attachment screws for added security.

The battery mounting area is long and unrestricted, accepts large packs with room to move the pack(s) around for balancing. There is allowance for cooling air to flow through and there are vent holes that can be opened up in the bottom and under both wings.

We use removable wing panels which mount on a carbon-fiber tube spar, just like the 50cc Edges.

We use a real spring mounted steerable tailwheel, no more single wire strut dragging in the back. And we use strong CA hinges on all surfaces that are easy to install and reliable.

Complete hardware is included with the plane and it’s good stuff that is appropriate for a plane this size. Hardware includes “glue-in” composite control horns, pushrods that are pre-made to length. There are no “quick connect” links, all pushrods use clevises and Z bends, nothing to slip or come loose.
Slick 540

Available separately is a comprehensive kit for completing this plane. The kit consists of a high performance brushless outrunner motor HD 3542-06. This motor is spec'd at 920kv and is capable of producing over 5 pounds of thrust from a 4s Lipo battery pack. It is actually more power than is needed and can be used on larger planes as well.

Accompanying this excellent motor is a 60 amp (continuous, 80 amps in 10 second bursts) ESC with a 5 amp BEC to power the radio and servos. This ESC and the motor are pre-assembled with all connectors so that no soldering is required. The ESC can use Lipo packs from 2s to 6s, we have found that a 3s pack is fine for sport flying and 4s supplies as much power as any reasonable pilot could want, but there's always more available with more cells. The plane in our tests uses approximately 300maH per minute, so a 2400 mahg pack is good for about 8 minutes of flying. Of course this will vary greatly with the style of flying. 3D will use more power while just cruising around the sky at partial throttle uses very little power.

The power pack includes 5 HD power mini servos approximately 20 oz. in. each. One servo on each aileron provides roll performance faster than most eyes can follow, and two of these on the two elevator halves provide 3D throws and power. Rudder performance with 1 of these servos is adequate for sport flying, the high performance 3D pilot may want to upgrade the rudder servo. Wild Hare has very high performance digital mini-servos available at very modest cost.

To complete this package we provide an APC 12-6 e-propeller and a 2" Dubro spinner.