Finally got this far, first kit build in 30 years. My last was tissue and dope.

Welcome back to kit building. Looks like you still "got it." Good luck with the maiden!

Very nice job with one of the very best kits ever produced.
Sunny_B

bingo field,
Great job!!!!!! Fantastic looking plane!! Let us know how she flies.

Ken

She looks beautiful! [sm=thumbup.gif]

You should have done a build thread on it.

I am just now running in the motor. Lot of firsts today... First 4 stroke. This has more power than my ST 75, and it sounds like something else... And I have only run 1 tank through it so far. With it tethered on the ground, at about 4k rpm, it wants to pull up already. That's about 1/4 throttle. The top end is supposed to be 11k, do I set the mixture after the 4th or 5th tankful so that it max's out at about 10.5 at full throttle? I can see now exactly what throttle control really means...

After an hour of running, so far I have settled it in at about 9900 rpm, it seems to have plenty left, I just don't want to overlean it. After I fly it some, I can always run it up a little. Amazed at how little gunk I got on the plane after 4 tanks, getting about 16 min. of run time on the last 2 16oz fill ups.. I can get good transition with an idle of about 2200, according to my tach.

Bruce Tharpe suggests a metal spinner, I would have to second that now..

Finally off call for a weekend coming up. Might just get a chance to maiden this plane.

Got it airborn for 1 tank of fuel this evening. After checking the balance, right in the middle of the spar, and engine check with the tach, I taxied it back and forth a couple of times. I could tell that it is a little nose heavy, had to hold full up elevator to taxi. Don't let off the up the up elevator until you have a little speed, the prop removes as much grass as a John Deere. Gets airborn at a very moderate speed, and at roughly half throttle. I wound up holding in some left aileron to keep it level, as well as some up elevator. I will adjust this a little at a time over the next few flights. As it was nose heavy, I ended up having to work the throttle a little bit to keep the nose up some on landing. Moving the battery to the rear some will fix that, I dislike running out of up elevator when landing. It wasn't all that bad, none of the controls were really far out, I just had to watch them and compensate. This was almost like a first solo all over again. I also like the sound that the 4 stroke makes, it is much less harsh on the ears.
It was beginning to get dark, so I didn't want to push another flight. I could tell at a couple of points in the circuit that flying much later would be trouble. When you can no longer distinguish which wing is down when just on the far side of the field, it's getting too dark. Besides, I have some adjustments to make before I get more serious about how this thing manuevers at speed. It does fly slowly if you want it to, this would be a very good model for a trainer graduate, as long as they keep the rates down. I have them set at max so they show as quite responsive for me. For a wingspan of 6 ft, it rolls readily, moving the cg back, it will roll even better.

Now, I just have to learn what a lomchevec is....

Congratulations on your successful maiden flight! [sm=thumbup.gif]

Thank you. I kept hearing how it was different when you put it all together yourself, I think I found the "feeling". I have put together a number of arf's, maidening them was different. It's a little more intense, maybe I think it's because you tend to scrutinize your own work differently, hold it to a different standard, than if you maiden an arf. I looked at it like, at a factory, they hammer these things out relentlessly, and once the first quantity are built, they all have a certain sameness about them. Not that it's a bad thing, but for the people putting them together, there is no feeling for it. For myself, it was part of a learning experience for that length of time, and each piece was touched by me, sanded glued and covered by me. Finally, it was flown by Me. A balsa epiphany....