All! I got it in the air! And it came home in 5 pieces! 1 fuse, 2 wings and 2 struts!

Today, we started the engine for my first time... it was a used but checked about Brillelli 36cc. It took just a bit of carb adjustment to get it running, but not bad at all. No gas leaks, so that was good. I let it run a nice long time and worked the throttle from time to time just to be certain it was going to be reliable. Not a single blip out of it. Sweet!

I set up some expo as I haven't yet set dual rates, only high rates which are pretty close to max throws and a little over factory specs for the ailerons... but rudder and elevators are pretty close. The ground handling is not the best I've had but not the worst. I only did a bit of ground work and then got in two flights, so I still have some experimentation to do to see what works the best. I do know my tailwheel spring is a bit light for this model... perhaps a bit more might make it more docile. Our grass was mowed a week ago and it was already getting a bit tall. I'm sure that didn't help much either.

Anyway, it seems to have really good power. It handles pretty darned good. I can see that knife edge is going to be easy as an aileron turn pretty much puts it into a knife edge mode. It was a bit late in the afternoon before I got it airborne and it was very cloudy, therefore dim, so I didn't want to tempt losing orientation... I only did a couple of rolls and one very quick stall rudder turn, both of which were very impressive for such a large plane.

My first landing was pretty hot coming in as I didn't know the stall speed. My second landing was still a bit hot but a very nice landing. Still got a floating easy bounce though. I played with flaps up high. They hold promise! I need to mix in some down elevator. But it really putts along up there with full flaps. I never found stall speed as I really didn't want to be dealing with that yet and on such a dark day.

Actually, I'm just extremely relieved to have it home and ready for it's next outing. Perhaps tomorrow if the weatherman will co-operate?

What none of you likely know is that I had a bad transmitter module... it was just weak. I totaled three planes in the process of figuring this out. One Senior Telemaster, one quarter scale Katana and one EF Yak 54 74. So it was like every time I put up a big model... and as I have done almost exclusively electrics... this is my first successful flight of a fuel burner! It's been since last November thinking about this. The hours into the project and I have been getting more apprehensive as this day approached. Finally, appropriately on Kentucky Derby day I managed to get back on my horse and ride it!

I still have a few items to complete. Wheel pants, Ignition and SmartFly switches, Flying wires, and a couple more stickers. A bit more radio programming/tuning. Mostly I just need to get in flights to learn what this bird is capable of.

I have noticed it likes rudder. Aileron turns wind up almost automatically in a KE. I haven't set up any aileron diff. Rudder turns are very flat in comparison. Rolls are a bit of a spiral. Some rudder and perhaps elevator input during a roll might be in order. Otherwise, it wasn't really hard to fly. Mostly I was just entirely too nervous and overly cautious.

Yes! If you can't tell I'm pretty darned excited.

Here's some photos at the field today.