One other thing regarding my "mods"...

I just used a borrowed prop and battery to check my CG [:'(]

I'm coming up extremely tailheavy and may need to add as much as 3/4 pound to the nose to balance! [:@]

How and why? Not "entirely" sure but here are my thoughts...

1) I used the 1-1/4" standoffs, some are using longer standoffs, pushing the engine weight further forward. But some are using the same standoffs I did....????

2) By replacing the stock CA Hinges with Robarts, I added the weight of the Robart Hinge points, AND the weight of the balsa hinge blocks and glue... waaaaay back there in the tail (as well as wing TE). I may have added as much as 1-2 ounces to the tail doing this now that I think about it. That's a 4:1 ratio from tail to nose for balancing, so 2 ounces in the tail means 8 in the nose to balance.

3) I used Carbon Fiber landing gear and spinner, so I lost about 4 ounces in the front end that I'm going to have to add back in now.

4) Maybe an extra ounce or two of covering and viny graphics from the CG back that aren't on a stock plane... that means another 2-4 ounces needed up front to balance.

CRAAAAAPPPPPP!![:'(]

BUT, this is all based on the "suggested" CG point. From what I hear, some guys say their V3D's are nose heavy (which is why I wasn't originally worried about tailweight). If in fact I can move my CG back some from "suggested" point... maybe I can get away with about 1/2 as much ballast in the nose.

Without ballast, I'm at 16 pounds even. So it looks like I'll be at 16-3/4 pounds on the maiden. If she doesn't feel tailheavy, I can slowly remove ballast until I reach the "danger zone"

Oh well, even at 16-3/4 pounds, that's a lot lighter than my last plane (WH Edge with a BME 50) and this plane has more wing area. My Edge was 18-1/4 with Smoke and about 17-1/2 without smoke... still flew great. Also, the Double Vision is around 17-1/4 pounds and is a rocket on a DA50, so I'm at least a half a pound lighter "with" ballast. Should be fine.... we'll see.

Tom