I drilled out the exit. a little bit larger than the hole in the stock muffler and it rips now

All servo's in the stock locations hitech 5625's cause thats what i has lying around.. i cannot find any accounting for requiring 345g in front.

If you are using a balancer do you have the plane inverted?
Mine is assembled as recommended and the only thing I did was also fuel-proof the tank area with a coat of thinned expoy. With the batteries in the recommended spots the balance threw me off a bit as I thought it to be tail heavy so I put the receiver battery under the tank with the ignition&battery. It flew fine but it was nose heavy. Moved the receiver battery back to it's recommedned location and it's still a bit nose heavy (flying inverted ,hands off) so I could move it back a little more.
Take the plane up with a full tank of fuel and trim it for level flight around 2/3 throttle. Then go inverted and level and let go of the sticks. If the plane falls it's nose heavy and if it rises it's tail heavy.

I tried balancing inverted and right side up on an ez-balancer, then double checked by hand same thing. going to pickup up a fish scale tonight and weigh the plane.

Wonder if it's my servo's ...

the recommended servo's weigh in at 36.5g and mine come in at 60g for a difference of 164.5 grams aft cg

I used HS-5485HB's as the LHS didn't have enough of the recommended servos. The 5485's are 45 grams each so you are only 45 grams(1.6 ounces) heavier(behind the wing tube) than my set-up. If you feel (like I did) that it's tail heavy then move the battery up and/or add some nose weight. It's better to fly a plane nose heavy than tail heavy and once trimmed out go inverted and see what happens and adjust from there.

batteries are moved up already. It just kills me to add 350grams to the nose, did you have to add any weight?

Like I said I just moved the 6 cell NiMh under the tank with the 7.4 lipo and the ignition. After checking balance in the air I moved the NiMh back to it's shelf and after checking it in the air again it seems like I could move it back even more.
I never added dead weight.
This plane along with only two other low/mid wing planes gave me a fit when balancing. I moved weight around as they seemed tail heavy on the balancer only to find after flying they were actually nose heavy.
Something is wrong. You are talking about adding 12 ounces of dead weight to the nose ! Your servos in the fuse are only adding 2 ounces and the muffler you are using can't weigh much less than the stock one. Did you check to see if a family of mice moved into the tail and set-up house ?

Lol, the muffler is about 1/2 the weight of the stock one, also my battery packs weigh nothing 90grams

My Hydirmax NiMh weighs 120grams and my lipo weighs around 100 grams. I can see with your lighter muffler and batteries you may have to add a  few grams to offset the slight weight difference with the servos ....maybe 40-60 grams but 300 ?

Going to weigh the plane tonight and get the total weight and see from there

Mine came out around 7pounds 5 ounces dry.

My dry weight is 7.8lbs

i'm about 226 grams heavier and it's probably all aft cg

tonight going to put the front wheel on a scale and add 30oz over the inbay servo's and see what the net change is, the further the weight difference from cg the more you will require in front perhaps if i swap out the servo's for lighter ones

It's worth a shot. Better than adding dead weight. If you still need some nose weight look at a Higley 1/4 x 28 heavy hub in lieu of the plastic spinner.
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Clicking Noise.
My engine has around 25+ tanks through it and it's now making a clicking noise when running and is noticeable at idle /lower rpm. There has always been a slight click when rotating by hand and it seems others have that as well but it just started to be very apparent when running.
Still running 20"1 and switched over to Klotz about  8 tanks ago. Running an APC 13X6 and just tried a Vess 13X6. Have the carb tuned for good transition on low and peak rpm to where it's not 4-stroking in the air but yet not too lean. The engine is still performing well but now with this clicking.  When rotating by hand the click that was there is still there but not any louder. There is no end play or lateral play in the crank that I can feel.
Anyone else experiencing this yet?

Well I spoke with a "Tom" at Horizon and explained the situation. He said that Klotz oil should be OK as the only oil they know of that doesn't work well with their engines is Amsoil.
He said it sounds like a crank pin or wrist pin that could be making the noise and not so much the front roller bearing. He didn't seem too concerned with it and said keep running it and if it gets worse or the performance degrades then send it in.

I think I will remove the speak plug and get wooden dowel and hold down on the piston as it approaches TDC and see if I can "feel" the click or any slop . I'm not going to open the case and risk voiding the warranty unless told to do so..

I removed the plug(plug looked good with just a few deposits) and I took a wood dowel ,held it on the piston with pressure and while rotating the engine I believe I've found the "click" at idle/low rpm in the form of a little slop when the piston was coming up with a slight "clunk" as the piston dropped down a bit. Repeated and it was consistent.
Looking at the post and pics from "smsinfo" (elsewhere), he showed premature wear on the crank pin after tearing his engine down after some trouble. I am going to say it's the crank pin on mine starting to wear as well. I can't tell from his posts if he experienced clicking at idle/lower rpm on his.Here is his pic

I removed the backplate and it was clean inside. I couldn't tell if the crankpin is worn but it looks to be a bit irregular. I can see some slop between the pin and the needle bearing but I can also see a little slop between the wristpin/bushing too. The clicking at idle must be the movement (slop)of the connecting rod when under pressure. I can see and feel it move.
I also noticed what seems like excessive slop in the prop driver and the crank. Didn't look like any excessive wear on the crank, driver or key but there's about 2-3mm of slop back and forth . Just seems like there shouldn't be that much.
Here's some pics and there's really not much to see. Will require a tear-down to find out if anything is worn. Looks like I'll put the backplate on and send it in .

at 96mm balance i only had to add 42 grams, I had nothing but problems with the mac and jett pipes stock muffler she ran great, ordering a wrap around pits and will mount the engine inverted should give it a good look, This plane rocks for touch n go's

A club member of mine has two of these engines, both run great but one did start to make a clicking sound. After a call to Horizon, he deiced to send it in to get checked as its still under warranty. they said the crank pin was worn because (they think) it wasn't heat treated correctly. They pressed it out and put a new one it and the engine was good to go. never heard of a pressed in crank pin on a model engine but anything is possible I guess. At least that what he said they did.

the turn around was fast and he is once again happy.

Bill S.

That's exactly what Horizon stated on another thread. Early batches apparently had some faulty cranks due to inadequate heat treating. Looks and feels like the problem to me as well. It's going in next week.
Thanks for the post Bill.

By the way. What kind of oil was he using after break-in ?
I switched over to Klotz and Horizon said that shouldn't be an issue as the only oil they have a problem with in their engines is Amsoil.

I do not know what oil he switched to, if he did make a change. Next time I see him I will ask and post what I find.

he also said Evolution/Horizon is coming out with more engine in the line, a 15cc and a 20cc I believe.

Should be interesting!

Bill S.

Yes. My LHS is getting the 15 and 30 in next week but the 20 has been delayed a bit.
I'm anxious to try them out as the 10 is running great even with this little bump in the road and I'm sure after the repair it will be fine.

If I were you I'd use a Dubro black engine mount, known for it's durability,
just to ensure that the engine stays in place 'cause of the vibrations...

Just a little update, got the jtech wrap around pitts for the 10gx, really nice, the only issue i am having is the muffler hits the nose steering arm, does anyone think there would be an issue if i mount the engine slightly lower than the thrust line to get it to clear?

Hi Folks,

I'm also flirting with the idea of buying this ARF+engine combo,but quite honestly I'm a little disappointed as for the quality of some H9 planes are concerned....
What are your general impressions as for the quality of the Meridian?
Thx in advance

Cheers

The quality of the ARF is very good, but the nose gear steering arm & wheel collar are crap. It stripped out after a couple of easy landings. I replaced it with a stronger one and it worked just fine. If you are getting the 10cc engine for this, then you need the muffler extension! Also, this is a great "flaps trainer" if you have not used flaps before. It flies very well and floats in on landings, much like an old Super Sportster. Aerobatics are very good and this airplane can handle just about anything you can throw at it (for a sport plane) but it is NOT a 3D ship. Read the earlier posts about some of Flyinwalenda's mods and you cannot go wrong.

Dave