Well, mine's together and balanced. All up weight dry is 12.9 lbs on a digital scale.
Have run the OS 1.60 through a tank of fuel, and if the BRUISES on the back of my wife's lovely ankles (she was standing in front of the stab for me) are any indication, it'll be plenty of power. It's enough that, holding on to the wing tube with the engine BARELY in a 2 cycle run, I can't pull
the plane backwards.
Havent flown yet...the wind gods aren't cooperating today...am hoping wind will settle down this evening, or perhaps tomorrow after work.
Until then, a couple of comments/suggestions/points/observations.
[ul][*] I have 2 complaints about the "kit" in general.
The stab slot is incorrectly shown in the photographs, and the text of the manual does not specifically locate it. As a result, I cut covering from a "hole"
below the stab slot that is nearly the same shape as the stab slot. Granted, an easy repair/patch, but the instructions really should specifically locate the stab slot, or caution the builder to avoid removing covering from the wrong slot below the correct one.
The cowl ring assembly and mounting section could be VERY confusing to the neophyte, as the "alignment tool", built from several plywood discs, is referred to as a "cowl ring" (and once "the included cowl ring" ) throughout that section of the manual. That would be fine, except the actual cowl mounting plate is ALSO called "the cowl ring" and/or "the included cowl ring" throughout this section as well. Those who have never built a cowled aircraft could easily find themselves wonering what it is they're building out of these play discs, and how it will be used. Perhaps changing the terminology to "cowl ring" or "cowl mounting plate" for the mount, and "cowl alignment tool" for the discs would help here.
[*] Beyond those minor issues, I was VERY pleased. The ARF assembles quickly for a plane its size, and the hardware, imo, is excellent. Only the throttle linkage is less than "very high" quality, and it is more than suitable for its purpose, imo. One of the few ARFs I've encountered that didn't give me ANY reason to replace hardware. The consturction appears top notch as well. Triangle stock bracing where you'd hope, interlocking pieces as you find in all GP models. The engine box, especially, was EXTREMELY solid with no wasted weight. Finally, as stated elsewhere in this thread, the covering was excellent. This is certainly my favorite scheme I've seen on a Yak, and the covering was (save one aileron) wrinkle free and expertly applied. Worthy of special note, imo, is the covering job done on the transition from the turtle deck to the vertical stab. Excellent work there.[*] The manual comes right out and says the plane WILL be tail heavy with a 1.60 on its nose, and boy they aren't lying. Even with a 6v 2700mah battery up IN the engine box forward of the firewall, I was STILL a good 1.25" aft of the reccomended CG. 7 oz of weight in the lip of the cowl resolved that, and all things considered, is still an excellent trade for the 1 lb+ extra weight a different motor would have added. I THINK one might be able to cut that back if you wanted to do the work to move the elevator servos wel forward, and perhaps go with pull-pull cables on the elevators, but, honestly, I just did NOT want to go to that much effort.
Wasn't real happy with the idea of ganging two servos for the rudder. Hitec's HS-5945MG offers nearly the same torque as two of their 645MG's, at roughly the same cost as 2 645's. Since the rudder servo tray is behind the CG (not my much) this is another option to help the tail heaviness just a tad.[*] With the OS 1.60 mounted on its side, .75 oz of weight was needed in the left wing tip. No issue to cut the covering away from the bottom, and put some adhesive weights in the wing tip, and reseal the covering.
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As I say, the flight report will have to wait for the wind to cooperate...but for now, she sure looks good, and all indications are that she'll be a real joy to fly.