hey Strat1960 - yeah i'm in the same boat. I emailed Heli-Max last night after responding, don't expect to hear anything for a bit.
I gave the heli another shot, and yeah i'm lifting off the ground and still no rear rotor. The second i hit the right rotor stick it starts spinning. My memory could be off , but i'm sure it started spinning before that.

K94Max - should the moving the rudder stick to the left totally kill the tail rotor rotation?

Thanks guys!