I just got this plane four days ago and I finally got it built and ready to fly. I bought this plane a few months ago and I built all up and had eveything built exactly by the book. When I went to balance it, the plane was so tail heavy that we added a whole pound to the front as well as moving a lot of parts towards the front. However that did not fix the problem. I was flying it for a maiden and the plane was just going crazy.... UP AND DOWN....UP AND DOWN.... UP AND DOWN.... etc. I was trying to land it and it met its new free TREE! A few of my buddies were beside me watching what I was doing on the sticks and they and I concluded that the problem was not my flying. I sent that plane back and it took a while however they did send a brand new four days ago and now it is ready for its maiden. I have come to the conclusion that something in the tail was made of hardwood or something of that nature. I picked my new plane up to balance it and it is a little nose heavy without fuel so I am thinking that this plane is fine. Tomorrow is its maiden so lets hope eveything goes alright this time! Below are some pictures of this plane.

Very Nice looking plane. I hope you have better luck this go around. In addition to getting your CG correct, make sure you don't have too much elevator. I have a Goldberg Edge 540 and on high rates by the book the plane is very crazy up and down. I also have about 50% expo on low rates. On high rates I have no expo. It is better for some of the slow 3D moves to have a quick response elevator.

Acouple of questions come to mind:

1. You assembled it by the book. That's good, but you still need to bring some experience to bear. For example, you mounted the servos in the rear. I have this plane and my servos are mounted forward in the cabin area. The reason mine are mounted inside the cabin is that, after installing the engine, I "trial balanced" the plane by hanging the tail servos in the general vicinity of the rear install positions. Humongus tail heaviness! So, rather than add a bunch of weight, I moved the servos forward so my plane balances where I want it to without any added weight. Don't blame the mfg/distr.

2. You had it balanced tail heavy and still chose to fly it? Maybe the problem was not your flying (piloting) but you are responsible for putting an out of balance plane in the air. Probably not many (if any) pilots could have successfully flown it.

Chalk it up to an expensive lesson learned.

Good luck with your new plane.

good suggestions about moving the servos Jim D,

I had the same problem with the second one. I was fighting it the whole time it was in the air. Im done with this model.