Here is a couple of shots of the finished Prototype.

I got the chance to Maiden her this afternoon and let me tell you what. This thing is now a true floater and tracks very straight. It no longer depends on just angle of attack of the wing to float but can use that equally well. The increased aileron size or more aero wing shape really gave the roll rate a big boost. Rolling circles and harriers are really easy. the same loop and rudder turn in its own length are still there. I was really just getting ready to explore the limits when I suffered some kind of power system problem that shut down everything about 6 minutes in during a rolling harrier. The plane did fall out of the sky with no servo or motor power from 6 feet up or so on to a grass field. The plane went in spinning hiting on one wing LE tip and the prop and flopped to a hault. I saw the rear section of the fuse shift from left to right and heard the familiar cracking sound of Depron in this area. Ouch

Dammage report:
1= Bent GWS Prop shaft (as usual).
1= Missing GWS rubber spinner.
1= Slight bend to the front lower area of the fuse tip.
1= Detachment of one front edge of a rear 90 degree support from the wing TE.
1= Crack in the middle of the same rear 90 degree support.
1= Unknown dead electronic part. When plugged in at home there was no radio or motor support together or seperately. ESC or Rx?

The wing is conspicuosly missing form the dammage report. While I knew it was strong and quite ridged, I didn't exactly want to crash test it at 6 minutes in to it's maiden. Absolutely nothing happened to it save a grass stain on the impacting LE tip. When I say nothing happened to it I mean nothing at all. Even where the 90 degree support detached is fine and the shifting load to the other side did nothing to the thin TE stringer at the other 90 degree support. I think I want to design a ground up Fuse for this wing and tail set up. It will be worth it in the end.

Bottom line is that the airframe could have been repaired and airworthy before the battery reached full charge again. the electronics problem has me worried though because it seemed to have a lack of power about a minute before shutdown. I use the stopwatch on my JR 8103 when I fly these things to get an indication of the flight time available and have never lost much power prior to 10 - 11 minutes in with this setup.

BTW I have updated my web site at http://www.rcxplanes.com with six downloadable plane plans for all to try out. I think you will all enjoy the flight charicteristics of these foamies a lot. Please just let me know what you think of them as you build and fly them.

Thanks,