Mark, I don't have experience with the Hitec digitals, but I set my radio up so I could use the most servo travel available and get the desired full control surface deflection. I am also using solder links on all my control rods on the horn side and haven't had a problem yet. I set up my elevators with the control rod connected to the outermost hole on the servo arm and control horn. At 140% deflection (150 for JR) I have approximately 50 degrees of elevator travel. For the rudder I am using the longest Dubro servo arm (1.25" I believe) and the second-from-the-inside hole on the Dubro control horn. At 140% deflection I get something like 55-60 degrees of travel, which is more than enough. On my ailerons I used the outermost hole in the control horns and the second-to-last hole on the servo arms. I am using standard precision servos on the ailerons and I wanted to limit the travel to allow better mechanical advantage and reduce the chance of flutter. I still have enough throw to do very fast rolls and torque roll to the right. When setting up your low rates, use the book's recommended high rates. The book's recommended low rates are far too small to do regular aerobatics, let alone 3D. Use some expo on high rates to tame the elevators, as they can get sensitive with full deflection. You can see a few vids of mine at my website. I'm also putting a freestyle routine together with mine and that will be posted hopefully within a week.