I honestly believed I could bring mine in at 6 1/2 lbs. I was wrong. 7lbs. If I had left of the fiberglass wheel pants off and used standard 5/32 wire for the gear, I do believe I could have shaved another 5 oz off the final weight. But what happens is this: The plane starts really lookng good. So you think, Gee, it would be a shame to have such a nice plane and not put the pants on it. And then I realized I had already drilled the gear holes for 3/16, so I used the stock gear. Many people complain about the landing gear on this kit, they say the blocks eventually give way. I think its because the wire is too large. I build alot of 60 size birds, and I have never seen a kit call for 3/16 wire before. I think its too large to flex and absorb the landing shock. I believe the entire shock is transmitted to the blocks . Well, so far, they seem OK, but I did use triangle all around them. And I did hit a 6 inch ant hill with the right main sometime in the first 20 flights.
My incedence was way off. I have slowly raised the trailing edge of the wing. It almost at the correct angle now.
My elevator is a bit sloppier than I would like. I used a double ball bearing servo, but it still has some slop in the output shaft that is transmitted all the way to the elevator. The servo arm doesn't rotate any slop, it moves forward and aft slightly. It would be less noticable if I had moved the control horn on my elevator further away from the elevator's leading edge.
I don't consider my Chipmunk to be a very tight plane. Its not a sloppy pig either, just not the pattern like plane I hear others claim to have.
The thing I do really like about it is this : its honest. You can pull as hard as you like and no snap roll. And it recovers instantly from just about anything at all. You can fly this plane right on the deck, never get higher than 80 feet and just have a ball right there in front of yourself. I fly mostly at an idle with just some power on the up legs. When I power fly, then the elevator seems sloppy, the trim seems to hunt. ( could be that 20 year old Cirrus radio). I'm still trying to fix that.
As with any Goldberg kit, you will find the kit is almost impossible to screw up. But on the other hand, its also almost impossible to make it perfect. The parts just fit so good and no better. And those square edges on the belly just kill the looks.
This kit builds like a beginners kit. And in its day, it was a pretty good performer. But now, I would have to say its a little dated. The constuction is a tad heavy for a 60 aerobat. The performance is tame by todays standards, ( but I like it).
All the ARF guys ask if its an ARF. They seem disappointed that its not.