Well, it happened. One of these wonderful little bits of composite showed up under my Christmas tree! Finally got the nerve to at least see if the thing reponded to the radio and I'm pleased to say that it did.

Tail rotor seemed a bit twitchy, though. Also, the collective wanted to send the bird forward instead of up as I throttled up. I'm thinking I may have bumped it before the gyro set itself and I wasn't really trying to lift off anyway. Friend loaned me his training skids less two of the balls; plain old 40mm table tennis balls fixed the problem. I'm swinging by the hobby shop where he works after I get out of work myself later this evening. I'll take all the help I can get...this little eggbeater ain't an airplane!