Stevo! That's a GREAT looking model! And congrats to you. If you were like me, it was a very nervous time during that first flight. So, all the months, you ahead of me, me ahead of you... and I get mine off the ground just 1 day ahead of you. But don't worry... the day I hit expiration on mine, I'll be sure to immediately post that event so that you can not fly yours the next day!

Now, if somehow yours expires before mine... I guess it would be nice to hear that warning as well because it could be that I haven't flown mine is several days and you might hit that ahead of me. LOL!!!!!! I just couldn't help but think of this after the last few days.

I did more on mine last night and tonight. Lots of little touches and tuning. Lock-tite on LG and Engine bolts, a few more stickers, added the weight for lateral balance inside an aileron servo opening, a few wiring mods and some more tie wraps. I also got my external switches installed. I can now put the model together and have enough power inside for a full day at the field... likely 4 or 5 tanks of gas. I then gave it a really good clean up. It has rained here like crazy. Our grass has grown as the field and so that was trimmed by the prop as well as somehow picking up a bit of mud.

And a discovery! I also have motorcycles. There are some really great cleaner/polishes for plexi windscreens. Having some of this on the shelf, I thought it a good time to try it out particularly due to the Decatlon's large windscreen with grass bits all over it. It worked great! It is good for plastic, paint and just about any surface. It cleans and polishes both. So, it leaves behind a nice slick thin wax finish which, if it works like it does on a motorcycle windscreen, makes it a LOT easier to clean the next time.

I am really happy with my 36cc Brillelli running a 19 x 10 prop. It won't quite hover... or I don't think it will? Maybe when I tune it a bit more and it gets a bit more carbon built up.... but it climbs really quickly. I still might try a 20 x 8 on it to see how that does. My crash pile LG is doing great! It was off of a quarter scale CMPro Katana. It is just a bit wide where it hits the fuse so comes out flat for the first 3/4" or so. But somehow it just looks right. It is some sort of phenolic and is a bit wider and taller (and heavier) than the stock gear. I'm also very glad that I added the 1/4" baltic ply LG plate to the interior. I wish I had used the same for the firewall. I might yet have to do something about that light ply. It crushes way too easy making it hard to tighten down the engine bolts. I worked on this some today. If it remains an issue, I might try some fender washers or something. I wish I could see what is happening on the inside as well. I can only guess the same. I hope I don't ever have an engine ejection! Guddentite for now with Lock-tite and I hope is has settled.

The wheel pants from the LG were sort of busted when I got the used Kat. I plan to use those but they are going to take just a bit of work. The mounts are toast and I need to glass the inside in a spot or two. Since our grass was high, I really didn't want them on there anyway. The bush plane look! And the only other thing to complete is the flying wires. I think I'm going to run by the LHS, which is 30 miles from here.... and pick up some stainless... maybe like 1/4" x 1/16" or so... whatever is pretty stiff, or some more of those Dubro straps to make the mounting points. I have leftover cable from my pull/pull system. I can use some of my small brass tubing for crimps. I'll likely cover the crimp areas with shrink wrap... I have a set of Dubro turnbuckles, however I would need another set and those are small but still weigh a bit. Maybe I'll just try really hard to get the cables very close to the right length and just twist the cables themselves to tighten them up. Perhaps I'll use those turnbuckles on the bottom only and rely on twisting the cables on the top. I'm trying to keep it all as snag free as possible as I need to be aware of the tug line. So far it is very clean back there.

Oh, and my other mod... a Dr. Pepper bottle! [8D] Since I have the bomb bay and it fills about half of the available space in the cockpit below window level.... when working out the receiver I need to lay one of the antennas flat on the top of this bay. The downside is the possibility of wing servo wires dangling down onto or near it. So, I took the bottle, cut it to fit under the wing bolt plate and velcroed it to the bulkhead. This leaves an open ended cannister which is just below the wing and I plan to feed my servo wires into that. If this works out really well, I might have to find myself a 'cheap junkie' pilot figure that I don't mind mutilating. I could cut the top off of his head and feed the wires in there. Would that be a wired brain? I had been using a rubber band but didn't really like that although with care it worked. As trashy as the DP bottle sounds, as it is clear you really don't see it without really looking.

Meanwhile, I look forward to my next trip to the field. I'm hoping these tweaks make it even better. I 'really' would like to get in at least another 8 or 10 flights before we pull out for Joe Nall next Wednesday evening!