The color schemes posted above all look great. I like the stock scheme so far, I find it to be very visible and easy to see.

As for flying and setup updates, I got a chance to put in some more flights yesterday. I rechecked my CG after my first outing and found that the location I preferred was right at 130mm, as recommended by B.J. The airplane felt very stable and locked in at this location. So, all of my flying yesterday was done with the CG at this location. It tracked nicely on uplines, felt good on the inverted 45 uplines, very close to needing no mix on KE, and it had a solid overall feeling.

I think the most unique thing about this airplane is the flying stab. It has a very different feeling to it than a conventional elevator. I remember discussing this with B.J. and he told me that when flying a loop you do not need to modulate the elevator input as you would in a conventional elevator. Normally, when flying a loop you begin by feeding in elevator then you relax it a bit and then feed more in etc. as you fly through the loop. With the flying stab you do not fly the maneuver the same. Basically, you modulate the elevator much less than you would with a conventional setup. I found that I would set my elevator input and then vary throttle to fly the round loop segments. I still modulated elevator, but much less than I was used to with conventional elevator control. I found that I was initially flying loop and loop segments like I would with a standard elevator and it just didn't feel or look right. Then I remembered our discussion and began to use the elevator as I described. It has a very nice and solid feeling. This is a whole new element for me. I really began to like the feeling, but it does require some getting used to.

It is very important, I believe, to follow his setup recommendations to the letter. I set mine as he described with a servo that meets the basic requirements. I used the JR DS8411 (with plastic gear set), put the pushrod at 17mm location on the control arm, placed the elevator control horn in the stab such that the clevis hole was 45mm above the stab, set the throw to 80%, and used NO EXPO.

Here's a pic of my elevator setup:


I felt that the elevator control was extremely solid. I never had any feeling of overshoot or lag. It is not overly sensitive around neutral but has a lot of authority.

This adds to the overall flying experience with the Bi Side. The best way I can describe the feeling of the Bi Side is that it is very crisp. The Episode feels a bit sluggish in comparison. Don't get me wrong, the Episode is great but it is not as spirited and quick as the Bi Side. The Bi Side is very fast and responsive, even when flying slow (if that makes any sense to anyone). That brings up a whole separate topic of how to tame the power profile for this airplane. More on that later.

I'll post more as I make progress. I have a decision to make this weekend, whether to put the motor back in the Episode (had to send my new Advance back to Plettenberg in Germany) and get busy practicing for the next contest or to stick with the Bi Side. I may have to go back to the Episode because I just have so much to learn and adapt to with the Bi Side in order to be ready to compete with it. I have no doubt that it will be awesome. In fact, I was almost ready to make the switch to the bipe yesterday.