Just got the Easy Star in at my LHS. Talked my club into getting one to use as an electric trainer based on my experience with the Multiplex Teddy ( plane that the Easy Star replaces), It'll be left at the field ready to go in our fields lockbox. Picked the kit up Friday evening, first flight Saturday morning. Can't say enough about this kit, super easy to assemble (hardest task was getting the parts out of the bubble wrap), instructions are written reasonably well so a beginner should have no problems with it. Kits $59, RTF's $187 ( beginner won't have any trouble with the RTF). Since this plane will see a lot of use my construction time was a little long as I made the motor and servo's removeable(CA'd a S400 motor mount to the fuse and CA'd two pieces of Lite Ply in the servo pockets for servo mounting screws). First flight was in 10-15mph winds with 7 600AE's, plane flew great and required very little trimming, handled the wind very well and flies well in a confined space ( had it at a ballfield and kept it pretty much in the infield) flight was about 5 minutes, cold day and I think it would have stayed up longer but my hands were freezing so I brought it down. The only problem was the resposiveness of the rudder, at the recommended throw it would be difficult to get a beginner out of trouble quickly at our field (fields tight and unforgiving) and since we will be using it as a trainer I wanted longer flight times. Moved the rudder linkage to the innermost hole on the control arm and put in a 1650nimh 8 cell pack. The AA nimh pack works out great, I was able to put a 3/4 inch thick piece of styrofoam on top of the full size Futaba receiver which is in the nose and velcro the battery pack to the top of the foam directly under the removeable canopy. CG is on the money, set up like this and there's no question as to where the pack goes when someone else uses it and the heavier pack will increase the wing loading making it better in the wind. Got my first customer on the Buddy Box, nice warm low wind day, the rudder's a little too responsive now, but I prefer it like that for our field, plane maintains altitude at under 1/2 throttle so with the 1650's that gets about 20 minutes. After about 10 minutes we brought it in with plenty of juice left in the pack, only comment was "Damn that thing flies nice!". The 8 cell pack is a little much for the 6v motor so after we wear it out I'll put a 7.2v motor in it. After trying to help a lot of people get there "RTF" whatevers flying with minimal success and seeing them fade off into the sunset with a broken plane and a load of disappointment it was a treat to see an ARF that's supposed to be easy to fly actually deliver (and then some). I'd highly recommend this plane to anyone looking to get started in RC.

Mike