RE: Final Trimming Setup by Flying? (How do I setup)
I'm also going to comment on a few points discussed so far.
I've posted a link to the updated Peter Goldsmith trimming procedure. What you need to understand is trimming works for 3D as well as IMAC. You end up with a plane that is very predictable and that is worth a ton, at least to me. I like knowing exactly what my plane is going to do. To properly trim a plane cannot be done in one day and in most cases your going to need at least 40+ flights, most of them only 5 minutes long. I find it funny that someone comes to me and says "I got my plane flying perfectly with only KE mixing. I usually ask to fly it and tell them to grab a notepad, they will need it. I have yet to see any plane that did not need some thrust changes, CG changes, elevator halves setup changes, things like that. The only ones that even come close are QQ's planes and ONLY if you build them EXACTLY like he says.
First off is adding it to a switch. Purely personal preference in my opinion. I like to leave my mixes on all the time, especially the KE/Flat turn mixes. Unless you are tail heavy, leaving the rudder to elevator mix on is not going to matter, most likely you are already holding more elevator than the mix requires just to flair for landing. Also in a crosswind landing, without the mix, the nose is most likely going to drop, or even raise (depends on a lot of other factors) when adding rudder and having the mix on will certainly eliminate that UNLESS you have a lot of elevator mixed in and if you do you're either really nose heavy or you have some other problem.
If you are running a throttle to elevator mix for downlines, then that sometimes is a good one to have on a switch. I know of a 42% J'tec Extra that needs a ton of down elevator for the downline and if you leave that mix on, then landing is a real trick. On a downline mix you will use an offset so that the mix comes in at very low throttle. Fine for landing as you are flairing already, but if you have to give it enough throttle that goes past the offset then all of a sudden down elevator goes away and the elevator goes back to "normal" PLUS what you already have in for the flair, what you get is an instant climb. I also use a high idle mix that is on the same switch as my downline mix. I use a higher idle once I'm flying to help prevent deadsticks, pretty common thing to do on large gas engines. Mine increases the idle about 300rpm. That way anything violent I may do will not pull the fuel out of the engine.
If you do decide to use Peter's methods and I suggest you do, follow them EXACTLY, that's very important and wil save you loads of chasing your tail.
Now, I'll toot my own horn a bit, especially since Jake popped in here. Jake has flown one of my planes (Casper, 2.6M C-Arf Extra 260) and to me it looked like by the end of the second flight he had no problem running through his IMAC sequence. He also flies with another person that has flown the same plane multiple times and this same person has also fallen in love with this plane. Why, because I spent the time to get it trimmed properly. I have gotten so many people offering to buy this plane. That's what happenes when you take the time to setup a plane properly.
Casper: