The Mach Racer finally showed up at my local Hobby people Thursday... since I was at work the wife was nice enough to go pick it up for me

Build or lack of is very straight forward. Covering on mine was perfect... not one wrinkle. The wing is one piece so nothing to do here, The elevon hinges are cut so all you have to do is wick the CA hinges with thin CA. The vertical stab requires removing some covering and sticking them in the well fitting slot with some epoxy... the hard parts are done since I fly off a dry lake bed and all ready know I can't belly land without tearing the bottom up( my Magnum proved that) I opted to install the trike gear, cut the covering over the gear block slip in the main legs and bolt on the tabs the hold it in place...nose wheel block is already installed... check the bolts mine were loose, slip in the nose strut, put on the wheels and the building is done.

Radio and engine install are about as hard and the build... everything fit in well with only slight trimming needed to fit in my TT pro 46. The hardware is typical ARF... not so good. I used some Dubro clevises,Horns and carbon fiber rod to hook up the Elevons. I also replaced the tank with a sullvan 8oz. The battery(600mah NiCad) slips in right behind the throttle servo, receiver just behind the battery, they built in a cross member that kinda makes two compartments and serves as a point to strap the battery/receiver to. Install your switch bolt down the hatch and your done... unless your want the canopy and cowl... neither IHMO made the plane look better... in fact to my eye worse... there still on my bench.

Radio set up was done by the book for low and high rates... I made up my own middle rate and I'm glad I did(more later). CG was set at 8 inches from the leading edge measured at the fuse sides... the radio lay out proved to be perfect as no lead was needed.

Flying this thing is almost as easy as putting it together... once I felt my engine had enough break in I taxied it around a bit... ground handling is very trainer like and you have about 2 inches prop clearance with a 10x6. Take off required little effort to keep it tracking straight and it lifted off nicely, I needed a few clicks of aileron and a few click of down elevator at full throttle to have it hands off... well as hands off as you can get at 120mph or so it tracks nice and smooth on low rate elevator/aileron but the low rate elevator was lacking when I slowed it down... the middle rate proved to be perfect for me as high rate made the aileron input VERY sensitive... bang the stick it will roll about 5 times before you can get off it Over all the plane fly's very well... it's not blazing fast with the 46 on the nose BUT it's not fully broke in yet and I need to drop to 9x7, 9x8 to get more out of it.


John