My best flying Gremlin had a Thunder Tiger 36 on it. Takeoff is just a push forward. Actually had one where after I launched with my right hand, put my hand on the box and hit the elevator stick a little hard by accident. The plane pitched over back towards me as I quickly shoved down elevator in and tried to correct it. The plane stopped with the nose just a little past verticle away from me and shot straight on up. That's about the right amount of power.

I'd probably try the Norvel 25 on one now, or the Magnum. A lighter engine would improve the turning ability of the ship.

A common problem of the combat newbie is to assume just sticking any old engine, one that he wouldn't mind losing, on the ship will be good enough. What you end up with is a ship that if you CAN get it launched, doesn't fly fast enough to be worth it. I've seen a bunch of out of the box electric setups like this, especially the ducted fan ships that just barely fly and land with their batteries depleted in a fraction of what it should. Normally all you'll end up with is a trashed ship, AND that miserable excuse of an engine that you'll stick back in the box and wait for the next time you want to curse yourself with a new idea. A Fox 29 is a good motor for a CL ship that was designed around it, not that their aren't better motors out there to take it's place. A Ringmaster with a Fox 29 on the nose swinging a 9x6 prop at 10,000 rpm is pretty impressive and will fly the plane quite respectively. It's low power by todays standards, but what the ship was intended for. An os 25 LA is usually the modern drop in replacement with a substantial power gain. But for the Gremlin they were designing around one of the later Fox 25 motors or later equivalents. It'll spin that 9x6 quite a bit faster, though nowhere near what the Norvel will do.

The Gremlin design lends itself to quick engine swaps, just make a new mounting plate and mount up any one of the engines suggested above. Then go out and ENJOY the flight. You won't have to worry about launching. You won't have to mind your attitude so much. It's pretty much just mindless flying for enjoyment. The Gremlin should fly as easily as your trainer with more manueverability and speed. Remember to throttle back if it gets ahead of you. Another common mistake of the combat newbie is to set your plane up to where the roll rate is too high and the pitch control too sensitive. If you have to spend 90% of your time keeping track of YOUR airplane, you won't be able to chase down anyone else. The more advanced you become, the more responsive your ship HOWEVER if you ain't up to it, you'll be much more succesfull with a stable ship that you can fly at the periphery and look for your next target.

Now I know that you said you weren't going to try combat right out, but we all know where you are coming from, BULLOCKS!!! You wouldn't have built the ship if you hadn't thought of how purty it would look with streamer hanging not only from directly behind, but out there on the wingtip as well. WE ALL SAID THE SAME THING!!!! MEEKNESS AIN'T WORTH DIDDLY!!! So power your ship appropriatly, get used to flying it full speed as low as you can, safely. Get used to pulling up, rotating inverted, then looping back (Better known as a Cuban 8) as low to the ground as you can. I have planted ships before doing this but it helps during the event. I watched Mickey chasing Grim and his Sickle one day, I was to dang slow and was trying to meet them at the intersections, and was surprised at the number of times Grim mowed the freshly hayed field. Mickey stayed a little higher, he had a larger wingspan and a sudden roll for would leave you cartwheeling which I managed to do.

Go now and sin no more.

Clean