RE: Top Flite Gold Texan
RCandy....
This kit will take you in the neighborhood of 70 to 100 hours, depending upon how scale you're going to get with it, and how fast you work. I built split flaps and all.
I've got mine back together now. I've installed the fixed gear. I also moved the CG forward to where Joe recommended--5 inches back from the wheel fairing--right next to the fuse. THis placed the CG about 1/2 to 3/4 inch in front of where it was to begin with--which is where the book recommended. The plans even have on them where the recommended CG is, so where I had it to begin with was no mistake--it was right on where the book and plans recommended. However, it was wrong, so beware when you build it.
Build it as light as possible in the tail. The short nose on this plane makes it almost impossible to move the CG fore. It took us 8 ounces of weight placed in the cylinders of the dummy radial to get the CG to move forward as much as we moved it. We put BB's in the dummy radial cylinders, and poured thinned epoxy down in them to glue them in. Worked like a charm, but pretty much put all the weight back on that I shed by getting rid of the retracts.
I haven't weighed it since we did all the work on it (today), but before (with retracts, and without nose weight) it weighed in at around 9 lbs. I'm sure it's about that much now, maybe 8.5 lbs if I'm lucky. I'm farily sure this is quite a bit heavier than the H9 arf version. I have the H9 mustang arf, and it's pretty light weight. This kit builds heavy--which, as we all know, makes flying it much more of an art [8D]
Good luck with the build. I really enjoyed building it. Hopefully I can get the balance issue worked out before it destroys the plane! It's such a beautiful plane. If you opt for the split flaps--get ready, and be patient!