Painting the Flite Test FT Edge 540 - Time Lapse 

With pleasure. Schöne Grüße aus Bayern 😀

Thanks! Sometimes I think I put too much time into painting... but it makes so much of a difference

For a foam board plane it flies fantastic. Haven‘t done a full flight video yet but I have uploaded a short sequence on my Instagram account: bavarian.rc

Thanks buddy!

Danke 😎😊

Danke 🙏

Thanks! There are different types of foam boards which will need different treatment. Here I am referring to the brown water resitant FT foam board. I don't use any primer on the foam board itself, only the plastic primer on the packing tape. When using light colors it could happen that the brown is still shining through a bit. With the Dupli Color paints I normally don't have this issue except if I only apply a very thin layer. When using masking tape you need to use really low tack painters tape. I use "Tesa perfect". To be on the save side I stick the tape with the sticky side to my T-Shirt or Jeans several times to make it less adhesive, before applying it to the surface. Other tape like the standard "Tesa classic" painters tape is way too sticky. Also make sure that you remove the tape right after spray painting. Don't wait! When removing the tape go really slow and always pull in the direction of the surface, never away from the surface. Minor defects will always happen here and there. I use a joghurt pot, spray some paint inside and then fix the inperfections with a small brush. Also make sure that the paint you are applying the masking tape to has dried for min. 24 hours, better 48 hours. I always sand the surface at the very end of the build, when everything is done. Back to the paint itself: I already used low cost hardware store spray paint that in the end didn't have enough bite and despite the same treatment as described above it was coming off when removing the masking tape. So there are many factors that go into a good result. By the way, in the mean time I also used 1K RAL spray paint from Tristar (www.tristarcolor.com) for my Messerschmitt Me-410 (check out the video on my channel). This worked out quite well and you have more colors to chose from compared to the Dupli Color Platinum series. Sorry, a lot of text to read but painting is not a simple topic. Maybe I'll have to do a "how to paint foamboard" video. If you have more questions don't hesitate contact me again. I hope all of this info helps.

Maybe using plastic primer will help? It will isolate foam from paint which melts it...

The original FT kit are either available in brown (classic FT foamboard) or in white (maker foam). I have never built with the white foam. For the brown foam I am using Dupli Color Platinum spray paint which works really fine. It is a bit in the middle between not being too aggressive to the foam but still having enough bite to stick to the paper. If I apply too much of it on the foam it also melts the foam. So my best advice would be to go in thin layers to allow the solvent in the paint to evaporate quickly. The laser cutting is usually melting the foam a bit on the edges so that's normal. Just out of curiosity: the foamboard of your kit is covered with paper on the top and bottom, correct? There you shouldn't have any issues with the paint. I hope you don't have a non-original kit that is using depron without the paper sheeting. The strength would be completely different (lower). The hardening of the edges is not to protect against the paint but to give it more strength. I often land in high grass which over time damages the edges if you don't protect them. Finally about the plastic primer: I use plastic primer on the packing tape surfaces to improve the adhesion of the paint. nevertheless I don't think it will make a difference for the protection of the foam. In any case I recommend making tests on some scrap pieces of foam with different paint. I hope this helps. Wish you good luck for painting!

@@bavarian_rc Thank you very much for the response! Yes, the foam is between two paper sheets. I saw on the other videos, that laser cut leaves almost no melting. Mine has 2-3mm depth. In some parts with sharp forms it's just paper. I need to fill all those grooves with glue, so the overall weight increases. It's bad(. I guess I will try this plane, then will build another, but of better material and self cut. Thanks for the painting advice! I will try with thinner layers. I wish you good flights!

Ok, 2-3mm melting at the edges is a lot. Hope it will fly great anyway! Let me know how it flies once you have maidened it

Thanks! Well observed, I added skewers to the edges. This adds a lot of strength and makes it so much more durable!

Danke! Wie Du schon richtig vermutet hast ist das FT Foamboard durch die Papierschicht geschützt. Wenn nur wenig bzw. eine dünne Schicht Lack auf den Schaumstoff kommt passiert nicht viel. Wenn man aber richtig drauf hält dann wird der Schaum angelöst. Depron hab ich noch nie probiert, dürfte sich aber wie der Schaum vom Foamboard verhalten. Der Hauptgrund warum ich die Dupli Color Lacke nehme ist dass sie recht gut auf dem beschichteten Papier des FB halten. Aber auch nur wenn man es anschleift. Ich hatte schon andere Lacke die da nicht richtig gehalten haben.

@@bavarian_rc Danke für die ausführliche Antwort.

Gerne!

I used the FT water resistant foam board but cut the parts by hand. So no kit.

@@bavarian_rc must have taken a long time to build, no?

The cutting was really time consuming. I spent at least 5 hours for that. Next time I will use a kit. But they are not so easy to get in Europe. They are pretty often sold out

@@bavarian_rc yeah getting things in Europe is tough pretty sure.. i am also planning to get a kit, much easier to build then.. Also, i see you recommend a different motor than what FT suggests and also a heavier battery. Does that help in better 3D aerobatics?

Well I am not a 3D aerobatics expert, I just made my first successful 10 seconds "kind of" hover last weekend 😁. The recommendation of FT is fully aiming at a light weight setup which I guess will work for 3D. My focus was not fully on 3D capabilities, I wanted something to make the next step in aerobatics and if possible with some 3D stuff...and to just have fun. So I went for a more heavy setup which requires a stronger motor and a bigger battery. I have tested 2 other setups. No 1 was a Graupner Ultra 2816 1500KV with 2200mAh 3S using a 9x5 Graupner e-prop. This was quite OK in terms of power but the motor got really hot and finally I toasted it. Then I tested the FT Radial 2218B 1180kV with 2200 mAh 3S on a 10x5 Aeronau light carbon prop. With this setup the plane was totally underpowered but the motor already got quite hot so I didn't dare to try a 4S (even if FT says 3-4S on 10x4.7). So finally I used ecalc to configure a setup that fits my expectation. The T-Motor setup (see video description) creates more than 500W power and for hovering I had to use only around 50% throttle. The thrust to weight ratio is around 2:1 so going vertical is quite impressive. Flight time is around 6:15 min as I only apply full power for vertical manouvers. The landing characteristics remain pretty easy even with the heavier setup. For me this is the perfect setup. I hope this helps.