Carl,

Thanks for the tips. I have two 1800 mAh lipos for the Mustang. If I got a lipo capable esc for the Magister, I could parallel the 'Stang's lipos to get good flight time with the Magister and probably still save some weight. I always belly land the Aerobird since I usually fly it a a sammler rock-strewn field near the house. When I haven't crashed the P-51 while trying something new or stupid, I have had no problems landing it. I just come in at half throttle about 18 inches from the ground and kill the throttle and give just a touch of up elevator to prevent the nose from dropping. The Shun Da Piper is so light that it just floats down like a feather - as long as there is no wind. In a 6-8 mph wind, I can hold the little Cub in one spot.

I haven't started building yet - been working on the wife's car with a dead battery. Had to buy a nice new auto battery charger to troubleshoot :-) So now I have a nice high current charger to recharge the big gel-cell that I carry in the car to run the charger for the planes. Now that her car is good to go, I can start on the MM. So I probably won't maiden until tomorrow.

You indicate that the Stryker is much easier to fly than the P-51 - or just more resistant to crash damage? The Aerobird is really tough - I flew it dead square into a light pole - it fell straight down but the only damage was that the receiver/esc board broke loose its mounting screw so the elavons were at full downward travel. A little 5-min epoxy and it is good as new (almost). Once I get the Aerobird up, my wife will fly it for a couple of minutes. She has no idea what she is doing and makes it do wild aerobatic maneuvers that have no names but look pretty amazing. If she gets it into a spin she just shoves the remote into my hand. For her, I get it three mistakes high before she takes over. But since she can 'fly' that one, she is much more receptive to my getting more planes. She never has understood my telescope addiction (3 Meade 10 inch SCTs, a five inch refractor, a 12 inch newtonian, and a couple of SBIG cameras). I think she likes the planes because I can do that closer to home instead of driving 90 miles and camping out for a couple of nights.

With luck I can report on my results by noon tomorrow.

Randy