Hi, I'm using my Great Planes CG machine on my Harrier and I'm wondering if I'm supposed to balance the plane up-side down or right-side up? I have a Saito 100 in the plane and it seems to balance at 175 mm up-side down with the battery pack right behind the firewall. It just seems too good to be true for me to not add any weight for plane to balance. Thanks for your help,
Don

No need to pinch yourself, the Harrier does balance perfectly with a Saito 100. The plane will be a bit nose heavy with a full tank of fuel with the CG set at 175mm.

Thank-you but, did you balance yours upside down? I just don't want to pile this thing in on the first flight.
Thanks,
Don

Yep. Don't use the low rate settings shown in the manual, use the (high rates) as your low rates. The plane is a very docile and predictable flyer, I am sure that you will enjoy flying it. Good Luck.

Thanks Power Play. How's the weather in southern Cal? I'm in Ontario Canada. It is actually about 45 degrees today here. There is still too much snow to fly though. May be next week though. Three days ago it was minus 5 degrees. Absolutely no flying on days like that.
Don

The 170-180mm from the leading edge range is extremely conservative. I started at 180 and kept moving the CG back until I was happy with the over all flight characteristics. I don't know eactly where it is right now but it will fly inverted with no down elevator. If I burn off all the fuel I have to push a little down to land it...lol! IT is still a sweetheart and never snaps no matter what I do.

When you build these be sure to set the hinge gap a bit bigger than normal. If you set it too tight you may not have enough elevator throw to get good elevators and flat spins.

Thanks Adrian. I just finished the model today. It balances at 175 mm from the leading edge. I has a Saito 100, Hitec 475's for the Ailerons and Elevators and a 5625 for the rudder. I put the Dubro 2-56 hardware on all surfaces and Dubro high strength servo arms. Right now I can get more than the 3D travels on every surface. This is the first 3D plane I have ever done so I will be pretty cautious to start with. In fact I have ordered an Accel Katana with the YS. 63FZ from OMP and if it comes quickly it may get flown before the Harrier. I would rather pile up a cheap profile that takes four hours to put together than the Harrier. On the other hand if the weather looks good in the next couple of days I may not be able to resist the temptation and put it in the air. I have a cheap fish scale to weigh the plane with and it shows it's right around 8 lbs. I am looking forward to learning this plane. Happy New Year.
Don