Extra downthrust is not a problem, the original design needed a tad more anyway.

Why am I doing this? Am I nuts? Well, maybe. Truth is, the pattern plane that I want doesn't exist. So I'm tweaking a good design to make it a little better.

The original design had a straight trailing edge and a HUGE amount of wing and stab area. This made for a very stable plane, but it's snap and spin characteristics suffered. Elevator was also extremely sensitive.

I designed a new wing with a double taper, and raised it a bit. This plane had the wing set at 2 inches below the thrust line, and the stab one inch below. if I move the wing up an inch without moving the stab, they are both then one inch below.

The original design was very neutral in knife edge. Tapering the trailing edge reduces the dihedral effect somewhat, so I elected to raise the wing to bring it closer to center. It won't go any higher. I also dropped some of the area on the stab, it's now about 24% of the wing. (Was about 31%)

I admit it, I know just enough to get me into deep trouble. But all i am looking for is a good starting point and I'll cut and adjust from there. I feel confident that I'm on to something with this thing, just not sure about some of the particulars.

-Mike