IN a bit of an addendum to this thread, I finally got past the snow, radio problems, and a bad ignition and got both of my 40% Composite-Arf Extras back out to the field for some further flight testing. Michael Hill, current AMA Nats Advanced Pattern champion and I flew the planes for about 3 hours, getting them "Dialed in" Here's a few excerpts from that.

First off the 33 lbs plane was dead on, concerning CG. NO bad manners, swinging out of the tail, and it tracked almost perfectly though it still needs about another 1/2 degree of right thrust in the engine. Every maneuver is crisp, clean, with no overrotations in any direction, great roll rate, and yanking back on the stick on high goes past "wing drop" very nicely, making it a cinch to Wall, Elevator or Parachute the plane. Power is more than adequate, with TR's at a steady 5/8 throttle, and very stable. In fact it's about the easiest plane to TR I've ever flown, as it almost hovers hands off. 3/4 throttle will pull out of a hover, and full power comes out with decent authority. Comparing the power-weight characteristics to the 3W150/canisters/3-blade I had on the plane before, I'd call it very close. Since the 3W setup was down on thrust using the 30-12 AM 3-blade, and the BME is using a very efficient Mejzlik 28-10 2-blade at the moment, there is almost no disparity in vertical acceleration performace between the two powerplant combinations. However, being 7 lbs lighter than before makes the plane fly a LOT better, much smoother, and every maneuver is crisper and more precise. This looks like a VERY good combination, and it's dead-nuts on with everything you do. Yes, you are on the gas a bit more, since it IS a 40% plane, but most of this years Advanced pattern could be done at less than 3/4 throttle, with full throttle only necessary for the upline snaps and other vertical maneuvers. A 32 ounce tank of gas lasts an easy 20 minutes, with 1/4 tank reserve.

The 28 lbs plane is, again, another ball game altogether. I've described it's characteristics before, and it's just AWESOME. Michael and I checked the CG of both planes, and it took 8 OUNCES of lead on the tail of the 28 lbs plane to get the CG's to match!!! It flies more crisply than the 33 lbs plane, and we were having a problem doing a nice s l o w rolling circle because the wings reacted so quickly to any inputs that the roll axis looked notchy. Adding expo and turning down the rate helped, but it just shows how ultra-reactive the plane is. I tried experimenting with Snaps, too, using only Elevator and Rudder, like the BIG planes do. . . uh .. . . .NO, not gonna happen. No matter what I tried the plane would just do a BIG Barrel Roll instead of stalling a wing and auto-rotating the snap. What to do? Okay, we threw out the elevator and went to only aileron and rudder. Sure enough, the plane snapped properly, with the nose pitching first, tail hanging out properly as it "auto-rotated", displacement about 1/2 span to the side, and decently clean exit from the snap. Using elevator at all made the snap barrel roll more, making the exit a really ugly thing. (SHHHHHHH. . don't tell the judges how I'm doing this. . . ) As for the CG shift necessary, it gives me an excuse to put two more servos in the tail, so that I can increase the High Rate throws on the elevator to 50 degrees, instead of the current 35 degrees max. I can also shift the batteries aft now (They are on CG), and add that 2-ounce pilot figure I need for competition, without fear of it becoming too tail heavy.

Michael, being a Pattern Jock, liked the heavier planes characteristics better, because it was less reactive and slightly smoother. He said it flew a lot like his Prophecy with a YS 1.20 on it, and had about the same power-weight characteristics. But, with a bit of experimenting I'm sure I can get the lighter plane to fly just as "precisely". All it will take is dialiing down the rates a bit and playing with the Expo. Right now, "Pattern" rates are 40% elevator, 50% Rudder, and 75% Aileron, with about 40% Expo on each surface.