z4racingjz...

Glad you found the metal arms. Mine came today so I'll be putting them on soon.

Flew the CAP 4 times tonight. Flys much better with the engine attached. I really did have a great time. Had one dead stick landing (no problems) when I had a flame out while in a blender. This plane will do awesome blenders. Some of the best I've seen. But I couldn't get the engine to pick up the throttle while in a flat spin. Seemed like it was richening up or leaning out I'm not quite sure. And I'm new at gas so I'm still figuring it out. And the engine is a long way from being broken in yet.

Did some wonderful KE tonight. Wow what a feeling. High alpha and super slow right down on the runway. Well, for me anyways. Probably 10' high. It couples a bit to the wheels. I have a slight mix and it made it almost perfect. I think I'll have to add just a tad of aileron into the mix to get it with no stick movement. But it didn't take much mixing. I couldn't believe how slow the plane would KE. Very cool.

I had several nice hovers. This engine has PLENTY of power. It really does. Vertical is fast and unlimited. It picks up niceliy out of a hover. I'm a bit more used to the plane after just a couple of flights and the hovers were easy. I may end up adding spoileron to make them even easier. I also had one time when I had to punch the throttle a couple times pretty hard and that introduced severe torque rolls and fast. Kinda cool actually. Spun 3 times in the blink of an eye but I still was able to get it stopped and maintain the hover. Amazing.

So far all my antics have been on low or medium rates. I did try high rates on the rudder only for hovers but everything else was low/med rates. Including the flat spins. And I'm telling you they are flat. I got it to actually stop decending for 10 seconds or so a couple of times. If I could have got the engine to pick up I would have been able to do the illusive "rising flat spin". I'm certain this plane will do it. I'll get the engine figure out and get to offer more than half speed and it'll do the stunt.

I did a few rolling circles tonight as well. I really felt very comfortable with the plane. Especially after the problem I had with it. Rolling circles are easy with this plane and very flat and precise. I'm still getting comfortable with the rudder inputs on this stunt but seemed like I knew right when to introduce the sticks. Again very nice.

I didn't attempt waterfalls, stair steps, or hard snaps. Still a little nervous. But she flys good.

This is what I have so far.
1. Evo 45 is plenty of engine, even at my elevation
2. The plane literally jumps into the air after about 12-30 take off run
3. Blender/flat spin are excellent
4. KE needs some coupling to the wheels mixed out. Probably about 5-8%
5. Hover is about average or easier than average slightly.
6. Torque rolls can be amazingly fast. Too fast if you're not careful. But with full ailerons on medium rates I could stop it and just hover in place
7. Rolling circles are very easy, some of the easiest I've ever done.
8. The plane instills confidence.
9. Weight was 13lbs 5ozs. Manual stated 12.5 - 14 lbs. I'm running a gas engine so I expect to be on the upper end of the scale. Yet it still comes out within specs
10. Kit is very complete. It even comes with a spinner that I was able to use on the EVO 45
11. Kit is very well thought out and easy to build. I used virtually all the stock stuff. I was very pleased with the quality. This new Performance Series line is truly the best out there. Excellent stuff.
12. I balanced right where I was supposed to without any weight added
13. Landing the plane is super easy. Slightly tail heavy but for a moderate and up pilot it's no problem at all
14. The fiberglass landing gear is very nice. It bounces just enough and yet is stiff enough. I really liked it
15. The visibility was awkward for me sometimes. I can see it fine, yet during hovers it was difficult to see the minute changes that happen. I usually stare at the canopy and just watch what happens and make the small quick adjustments. This plane will take some getting used to. I felt like I was ever so slightly "behind" on the sticks. I just couldn't really pick up the movements as fast as I wanted to. Maybe it was just the day. I'll keep up on this any let you know what I think
16. I noticed some coupling to the wheels (very slight) on fast uplines. I may need to add a slight amount of upthrust. But I want to finish trimming the plane out first
17. Wing loading is nice on this airplane 26.25 ozs. I thought that might be heavy but it flys very easy and light
18. I notice some quick snaps when you let this plane do it. If you get out of shape you have to fly it back. You can't just let go of the sticks. I would call it snappy in a good way
19. I like this plane.

As I fly it more I'll do a critical review and let you know what I really think.

Thanks
Barry