I maidened my Dolphin today It came in the mail last Friday, and I finished it last night - one week.

Showed up to the field today, first time back in 2 weeks after losing 2 planes in 3 days; boy was I NERVOUS! I was expecting to have a trainer maiden my plane, then maybe take my first low-wing, tail dragger with dual rates up on the buddy box. Not what the instructors had in mind! I maidened it myself, SHAKING FROM HEAD TO TOE. It took maybe 5 or 6 circuits to get everything figured out, then was time to start shooting approaches. Well, approach #1 looked so good I went for it, and have never seen a plane land so smooth...textbook! I can't believe I was able to maiden my own plane, tail dragger/low wing etc. after only a month of RC flying. I really feel like it was a huge accomplishment.

After a few flights I was able to loosen up and try some slightly aerobatic moves, and boy was it fun! What a difference from a high wing trainer. It's a little tail heavy, believe it or not, even with the addition of a heavier landing gear. (Balanced OK at home, but was flying a little funny; handed it off to a trainer who explained it was tail heavy) The CG of the gear itself though is further back than stock would have been, and I mounted the battery as far back as I could while still being in front of the servos, so I think moving the battery up will be just perfect. The two nylon bolts holding the gear are working great; took some not so smooth landings when the wind changed directions.

One huge difference I noticed was the ability to 'balloon' when coming in for a landing. With the trainer, no matter how much elevator I gave the plane, it never did a nose up when
coming in for a landing, just slowed the descent rate, even with 1/4 throttle. Don't know if that was because of the CG or not.

OS46AX doesn't even know it crashed. Maidened the plane with a 11x5 master airscrew, and was perfect for any type of flying.

One question I have is about dual rates/expo. The instructions say to set up with dual rates, so I did. The plane felt very 'twitchy' my first few flights, even though I was on low rates. I was told to use a little expo, and I did. Then I tried the high rates when I was more comfortable, and was able to take off and land on high rates (actually by accident, forgot about the switch!) So should I even bother with the low rates? Or should I fly for a while without using expo as I am still a new pilot? I was told by an instructor that it's not a crutch, it's a tool, and that's why it's there.

So tonight I'll readjust the CG, and will be out tomorrow with all the Dad's in my club -should be a great day. The Dolphin is SO MUCH FUN TO FLY!!! It seems like it will do anything I ask it to. Because of my crashes, I am really not going to be spending too much time withe aerobatics for the next few weeks, rather working on perfecting basic flight maneuvers and working more with the rudder. The high wing trainers really do make this kind of stuff much easier. I definitely didn't 'look as good' in the air with the sportier plane, and it really put me back in my place (not being too cocky).

Thanks for reading, looking forward to giving you some more updates, and hopefully a pic if someone has a camera tomorrow.