Well, it finally flew this weekend, and holy cow, am I impressed. The only new pieces of equipment were the APC 16/8 prop, the DB motor mount, the wheels and the 3004 servos in the ailerons and throttle. Everything else was second, third or 4th hand(the plane itself). Heres a breakdown of hardware.
Dr Jeckyll PHD with Phenom wings and tail (brand new with Gator wing adjusters and new tube/socket). Wing has also been moved slightly forward. (72 in ws/76 inch fuse from spinner to rudder) $120.00 with retracts, retract servo, and linkage installed. Did put new 2 3/4 in wheels on it to improve ground clearance.
Saito 150 ($250.00) on a soft mount similar to the Piedmont Models mount (10/32 neoprene well nuts holding a Dave Brown 120 mount.) No nosering needed, and thrust adjustments can be made by adding washers between the mount and the firewall. A new firewall was made (old one was knocked out), so we test fit everything 6 times, then mounted the mount to the firewall, engine to the mount, slid it in, put the spinner and prop on with a 1/16 inch piece of material as a spacer. Epoxy and flocked the backside of the mount in place, removed the engine 48 hours later, and gooped the front side, locking the new firewall in place. Very quiet mount considering the size of the engine. Using the stock muffler right now, just to get the engine situated. Using RedMax 15% fuel, and no Perry pump (perry will probably be installed later this month)
Servos: Elevator/Rudder servos Futaba 9201s ($40.00 for the pair at a swap meet) These were installed in a heli, but never flown, so they are practically brand new). Not enough oomph for tumbles, but its a pattern plane, right
Futaba 3004's on the throttle and ailerons (got those with my 9C transmitter).
Battery: 1600 NiMh 4 cell pack from Radical RC (had this in the last sport plane I had (Kyhosho Majestic). Since I need to add some nose weight, I'm going to put a 5 cell 2700 nimh pack that I'm getting from my neighbor.
All up weight right now is 10lbs 9 oz, but will get to do some rearranging to drop that down a slight amount. I'll be happy with 10 lb 6 oz. (have two tanks in it right now. one on the cg that came with the plane, and a 14oz up near the firewall that I'm doing the engine testing with. Didnt want to have to worry about siphon or pump problems on a new to me engine.
Flight performance:
Wingspan99 did my maiden flight for me, and it needed about 4 beeps of down elevator trim (due to the somewhat aft cg). No aileron or rudder trim needed. Rolls are very axial, but neutral (CG). No down elevator needed for inverted flight (again, aft CG).
All in all, it will be a great plane to learn the pattern on, as well as get some stick time doing something other than sport/3d flying. I could actually manage a somewhat decent roll/slow roll with it on my first flight. 4 point roll was limited only by my fingers. I spent most of my time doing passes with it, just getting used to the speed and the airframe. I deadsticked my first two landings (one was due to running out of fuel, and the other was too lean on the low end), and slightly overshot the runway on the 1st, parked it at the end of the runway on the second. I cannot get over the glide rate of the plane. That is going to take some getting used to.
I managed to put together a 1.20 sized pattern plane for less than what it takes to outfit a brand new GP venus, and have 3 times the airplane. So, definately keep an eye out for used pattern equipment guys, you can get a deal if youre willing to be patient, and dont mind having something that looks used. I plan on flying the snot outta this plane.
Steve