Hi all,

I was wondering if anyone has had experience with the Great Planes Basic Light Trainer? I built it as per the instructions, kept it in the 9-13 oz range (11oz.) and used the recommended battery pack and motor. The motor package is as follows:

T280 ferrite motor w/2-pin female plug
T280 4.1:1 ratio gear box
11 tooth pinion gear
ElectriFly C-10 micro speed control
APC 10x4.7 slo-fly propeller

The battery is a Great Planes 6-Cell 650AAA NiMH Panasonic

In the instructions it states that I can cut the motor from 3/4 to 1/2 and it should maintain altitude. After many attempts at trim/cg modifications (starting with the recommended CG point and working slightly aft before returning to the recommended point) I've come to the conclusion that this thing must be slightly underpowered as built. I have increased the wing incidence slightly by placing a 1/16 piece of balsa under the leading edge of the wing. While this reduced the up trim necessary to fly level at speed, as soon as I cut the power by even a fraction, the plane begins to slowly descend. Has anyone built this plane and modified it or found it to be slightly underpowered? I'm still relatively new to R/C, although I've been building balsa planes since I was a kid, so any suggestions would be great. I did a search and found a couple of ideas, but I'm wondering if there's anything I can do with the plane as-is to improve its performance.

Thanks in advance!!