Hi guys,

I performed the test flights on my new GP 1/4 scale Giles 202 today and came away very favorably impressed. Power is a Moki 1.35 spinning an APC 17X8 at 9000 rpm in flight trim. It needed 2 oz of lead in the tail to balance and came in at 12 lbs, 5 oz. dry weight.

I upgraded some of the hardware to better stuff, but generally I'm very pleased w/ the quality of this ARF. I did switch the landing gear around so that the sweep is now front to back, which not only looks better, but also places the wheels about 3/8" further forward. I had observed that a friend's Giles had a slight tendency to nose over on the rough grass at out field, so I also shimmed the back of the landing gear about 1/16". The net effect was to place the wheels about 3/4" ahead of the intended spot. I'm happy to report that the ground handling w/ this setup is very good and there's no nosing over tendencies. I also upgraded the wheels to 3.5" Sullivan rather than using the smallish 3" foamies that come w/ the kit.

First 2 flights were very conservatively peformed so as to give the Moki some additional run in time, but during flights 3 thru 5, I progressively wrung it out to see what she would do. Well, this is a great bird IMO - it tracks strait as an arrow, rolls are as axials as any plane I've flown and the airframe dampens its movements very nicely. The main impression is one of smoothness and groviness.

On knife edge, the Giles exhibits NO roll coupling, with only the slightest pull towards the gear. Vertical performance w/ the Moki is excellent, though I'll wait 'till I'm 100% confident w/ the engine before I try any low level prop hanging.

Low speed flight exhibits no tip stalling tendencies and the plane has an generous glide ratio. Like any large aerobat, it can't be dragged in slow and nose high, but keep a little speed up 'till over the numbers and landings are pretty uneventfull.

I asked a good buddy of mine who's also an experienced pattern flyer to try the Giles and he also had a very good impression of the ship. I had been wondering what it would fly like, since I had been suspicious of the low price Tower was letting them go for last fall ($192 shipped), but my fears were unfounded as the Giles is one Great Airplane (pun intended!)