When I moved that battery pack back in the fuselage, I wound up with a great flying airplane. Only problem with it was it was on the heavy side. But I made a mistake when I built the supporting structure to hold that pack. It was back in the fuselage behind the TE of the wing. Darn that airplane flew good though. But the battery wire just reached the wiring harness connector. And one day.........

The battery slipped back a bit.

It pulled the connection loose. That SNAP ROLL at speed turned into a real SNAP..... and BOOM........

I really had liked the way that airplane flew, but was really not happy with Phoenix. I'd just found the lead weight they hid in the nose and that told me one thing loud and clear. Them guys didn't understand much about building airplanes. You don't add weight, dead weight to make up for other mistakes. No way was I going to mess with them again. But dang I wanted another Sukhoi.

Well, it's been a year........ And I just flew my new Sukhoi 31. And is she sweet. Excellent isn't a good enough word to describe this one. It's Hobbico's 60size Sukhoi31. It's excellently sweet...... Put three flights on her yesterday. First time out for the engine too. both of them were good. Just about the best flying ARF I've had in a year and a half of getting back into the hobby and it's ARFs.

Lined everything up in the shop, balanced it by the book, throws by the book, and searched high and low to make sure Hobbico hadn't hidden any lead in there somewhere.......... She flew with a couple of clicks of elevator trim. Just a hint of tuck on the knife edge. Will snap inside, outside, in-out, and out-in so quick I'm still shaking. Couldn't get her to settle into a flat spin, but then I can't do them worth spit yet, anyway. A honey baby.........