ORIGINAL: rcpattern
ORIGINAL: mups53
My last plane could be setup so that it had a mix that was a 2% down elevator with low throttle for downlines. The CG was such that it required 0 elevator mix in knife edge. While it was nice to know it could do it I gravitated towards a more aft CG setting which induced some tuck to the belly on knife. It's nice to know a plane is true but like you said we all like a certain feel inverted. It smooths out my rolls.
My preference is slightly aft. I don't think it's a deal breaker if a plane requires minor mixing to get it to feel right.
Having said that I have a more forward CG now than I did 3 or 4 years ago and I now know that there are benefits to that setup. It also seems to penetrate the wind better when you are a little forward. Apples or Oranges there are no wrong answers just winners and losers. M²
Mike,
Another trick to this is to change the expo or rate settings for down elevator inverted. On my black magic I liked how the plane flew in all other aspects, but inverted it took more down than I wanted, so rather than shift the CG, I played with the expo settings. I actually run very little expo, none in some cases, but while I have a little bit with up elevator, I actually have a little bit of the reverse expo so that it is more sensitive around neutral, thus giving me the feel I want without giving up anything else.
Arch
Excellent point Arch and yes I usually run far less expo on inverted (down E.) then right side up.
This brings up a point I wanted to make that no matter how much you like a new plane it always takes a decent amount of time to learn how to set it up perfectly. there is no substitude for practice. Mike