Ok, test flights 1 and 2 are finished. All I can say is this: WOW.

The first test flight was interesting. After doing some trimming for slowish flight I started doing some vertical trimming. The verticals wanted to push over (up or down lines), and knife edge wanted to tuck to the belley. After landing I took another hard look at the droop on the ailerons and noticed that they were all a tad low (at about the same ammount). Fuming over the z bends I decided to try to remove the CA and readjust them, which I did with a little effort (the medium thickness CA is what I use). I readjusted the main servo to lower aileron links, ate dinner and headed back out. This time it was a whole different machine. The verticals were dead strait and it didn't exhibit funny speed dependant elevator trim changes. So, take extra care in setting up the aileron linkages.

I initially balanced mine at 1/4" behind the 2-3/4" initial CG. For some reason when it would slow down, the nose would come up. Taking a swag at it, I moved the 640 pack slightly forward (it was centered under the recommended CG). Test flying it again proved that my reflection flew more neutral without a tendancy to pitch up at lower speeds. I couldn't do an accurate CG placement in the field since there was a slight breeze, but I assume that it is somewhere between 2-3/4" and 3" from the top wing LE at the fuse.

This plane is sensitive to trim changes. I could see the effects of single rudder trim clicks in flight. Elevator was a tad less noticable, and the ailerons were about the same as the elevator.

The design is very rugged. On thress seperate charged packs I had soft cut offs after about 10 minutes of hovering and putting arround. Seemed normal at the time, but when I put them on charge at the house, each was fully charged in less than 15 minutes each. This was not normal. I had flown these packs on a Blade CP heli and a GP U Can Do 3D EP with similar flight times, but the charge times were on the order of about 1 hour each. The power system I have on my Reflection is a GP Rimfire with a GP BL-8 esc. These were donated from my E-Flight Yak 54, which had no problems. I don't know if it was a temp cutoff, or the pack voltage cutoff. I am running some pretty heavy surface throws drivin by HS-55 servos. I'm planning on putting my CC-25 esc on it in a few minutes.

One nice thing that would help folks build the flat outs would be a 90 degree triangle like the throw gages that were included in the kit. Just a thought. Anyway, this plane is a big hit with me.