It's a week later and today I got in the "other half" of the maiden flight on the Me109. It only took me a couple of days to completely rebuild the nose and it's actually a bit stronger now than before. One of the guys at the field with a lot more knowledge about engines than me helped me fine-tune the idle setting on the Saito 56 I have in it. We got it ticking along at about 24,000rpms on the slow end and 10,500 wide open.

After an initial nose-over on the first couple of feel of the first take-up run (I seemed to need a bit more up elevator to keep the tail on the ground this time), the second try went well. The model takes off quickly and I suppose you'd have to be careful not to take off TOO quickly and risk a low-speed stall.

Once up in the air it's an easy flyer. I only used the low-rates on the ailerons and elevator today but Ithink once I get the feel for this model, I'll be bumping them up to the high rates. As it is, there's certainly no "overresponse" problem.

After a dozen or so circuits around the field (nothing fancy this first time) I brought it by for a low sleep low pass and then brought it around for a final circuit. The approach was good and the model came down nicely on just a click above idle. It lands in a very scale way: with a bit of speed and on it's wheels. This is not a model you float in for a 3 point stall landing like a trainer. There was no bounce and the model rolled out straight.

I did forget about the need to hold up elevator on the ground thourgh when I turned it around to taxi back to the pit -- so I nosed it over again.

All in all, I'm very happy with this ARF and would definitely recommend it to anyone as a first "warbird" after they have some low-wing sport experience. If fact it's almost a perfect step up from the low-wing Kyosho Calmato Sport.