Finished!

I can't believe it, it seems like this one took forever (I am not used to spending 60 - 70 hours on a plane) but it's done! I am very releived and very, very happy, I've been looking at this thing in it's various parts piles for almost a year, time to fly!

I was able to get the servos mounted much easier than I thought, the wings proved to need only a trivial amount of trickery to get the servos installed, not as bad as I originally thought. I also glued 2 carbon tubes in the fuse to support the batteries, I was able to fashion a battery tray from 1/4 birch ply with lightening holes. I used some wood to form a "U" that hooks over the front carbon tube and then some wood in the rear with a very slight curve cut into it so it snaps into place, very effective. The battery tray is designed to hold 2 of the EVO 5000 6S2P 20/30/50C packs and by being long, it can be adapted to almost anything. An arming switch was mounted just above the right wing, I am a huge fan of these things and any plane that doesn't have one should, easy to arm right on the flight line. What else, canopy front nylon bolt was installed, it really does add just the right amount of pull down when you push the canpoy forward, I came close to omitting it but I am glad I didn't, should be virtually impossible to yank the canopy off in flight.

The wheel pants were a pleasure to work with, for once someone includes parts that are proper for the size wheel that should be used, no cutting! They were quite easy to fit and only needed holes drilled on one side (prettier install), I used DuBro 2 1/2 low bounce wheels since my landings are sometimes a tad harder than the proverbial butterfly landing on a leaf scenario. Those of you concerned about weight here we go, the AUW is 11 pounds 8 ounces. My completed Impact came in more than 11 pounds yes BUT remember I am running this on 12S with second generation EVO packs, turns out if I swap out the 2 EVO 5000 6S2P packs (at 28 oz. each) with 2 EVO Lite 5350 6S packs (at 21.5 oz. each), I would have an AUW of 171 ounces (or 10.625 pounds) which would keep me under 11 pounds by some 5 ounces. Truth is I likely will never compete but a flying friend has been bugging me to try so perhaps I might, never know but glad to know I can swap out the packs and make weight.

The next step is the maiden on Wednesday (12/19/07), I plan on having my local instructor test it like I do with all my planes, probably mental but I've been doing it so long it wouldn't feel right any other way. I'll certainly post results after the flight, everything I've read has me almost giddy with anticipation. I'm going to use the new JR 9303 2.4GHz, I also have a Spektrum DX7 so I'm used to the 2.4GHz systems but the 9303 really is a dream to program. Setting up dual ailerons and dual elevators couldn't be easier, once setup the radio even changes the names so when using sub trim you can tell what your adjusting. The Impact manual talks about adding 10% aileron differential (negative) to account for the top hinging, that too was a breeze to setup with the 9303 (it has aileron differential right in the setup, doesn't need flapperons either, just dual aileron and/or the flapperon configuration). Well, nothing left but to fly...

Jack