These are really fun. Everyone should have one. Maidened today in winds that were 20 gusting 30. Launch was a non issue, very small amount of trim required to get hands off level flight. (See below) Lands easily, as it has the classic delta nose high approach and touchdown quality.
The rest of the story:
1. I used HiTec HS 325 servos instead of the monsters specified. Kept the weight down, and I don't need them. (I don't think I could even watch some of the antics this thing is capable of, much less actually do them.) Control travel is set to that recommended for low rate, with 55% expo on aileron, and 35% for elevator. Seems to be about perfect. A little touchy in roll before the speed gets up to cruising, but that could have been due to all the wind I was fighting at launch.
2. Weight, RTF, came out at exactly 56.6 oz (3.54#). ARFs usually come out way, way heavier than what the supplier states they will. As Extreme claims max weight of 3.25 RTF (dry) for the glow version, I'm impressed.
3. There's always that "delta" question of how much up elevon trim to use, for reflex to hold the nose up. I noticed during assembly that that piece in the center of the TE kicks up a little, and that the tip TEs do as well. I set the initial elevon up trim such that the tops of the elevons were flush with the top of the center section. This resulted in the tips of the elevons being above the fixed wing tip surfaces, so I trimmed it down a little, until they were flush. If you do this, then lay a straight edge on the bottom of the wing, it lays flat across the elevons. On top, there's a gap in the middle, indicating reflex curvature. This is a true reflex wing, designed with a up kick to keep the nose up. Why, oh why, don't they address this in the manual? Anyway, I gave it three beeps of up trim just for safety on the first launch, and it got so high so fast I had a hard time seeing it. Took that out for the subsequent flights and it handles just beautifully. One of the reasons for that is counter torque weighting: I stuck a half oz of lead on the right hand wing tip. Best modeler trick in the book, IMHO.
4. You can see from the second pic that I had plenty of room in the bay for the stuff: the pack fits in ahead of that transverse piece of balsa you see near the ESC choke coil. A similar piece up forward locates it on that end. The ESC sits on top of the pack, and keeps the pack from rattling around. Rx is near the back end, across from the rudder servo. One of the antenna is run straight forward, and one out into the wing root at 90 degrees. Both are in pieces of plastic push rod tube for protection. I set the CG in the middle of the recommended "empty tank" range: 12" forward of the C/L TE.
Probably one of the better engineered and produced ARFs that I've assembled. The only ***** I have is that the clevis pieces for the aft end of the push rods were the wrong hole/thread size. It was a simple matter to bore them out and re thread them with a 4-40 tap.
Well done, Extreme. I'll probably buy another and keep it in the box just so's I have a spare.