ORIGINAL: toomunsch
On the thrust angle issue, my motor actually slightly angles toward the left side of the plane. Do you think that is detrimental / should I adjust it so it vectors straight ahead?
If you mean an imaginary line through the shaft points to the left of the nose, then yes, you do need to adjust the motor mount holes so that imaginary line is at least pointing parallel to the center line axis of the airframe. Don't worry about the down angle as that is built into the motor mount.
You can do this by unscrewing the four motor mount screws from the bottom, remove them and redrill the holes in the foam (or egg out the existing holes enough) so that the aft end of the mount is square with the trailing edge. Don't worry about it moving back since when you tighten the screws back down, the mount will sandwich the foam so tightly it can't move.
While doing this, you might also want to put some reinforcing under the mount to spread the loads during a crash. My first airframe had to be replaced when a very hard crash caused the whole area around the mount to tear out. A whole section about 6" square ripped out of the plane. I did glue it back, but it looked terrible and I did not trust how strong it might be. Bidirectional fiberglass tape (like strapping tape but the FG strands run in a cross hatched design) laid top and bottom and from fin to fin really stiffens up that area. I found that tape at Office Max and Staples.
When you convert to brushless and lipos, don't forget to remove the factory supplied nose weight - you won't need it. The weight is just a large sheet metal screw they jam up into a hole in the bottom of the nose cone. A long thin needle nose plier can get it out.
With the Mega a 2/3 throttle launch is all you need. Things happen too fast for me at full throttle, and the plane is so over powered that 2/3 is all you need. Good Luck!! [8D]
FoamCrusher