Well after cracking the fuse from top to bottom in air I got her back together. I went pretty overboard in the reinforcement but I will never have to worry about it cracking there (I had the digi cam but the batteries were dead).
I took off and knew immediately she was tail heavy and that was with a full tank of gas. I got her trimmed out and she flew like she was on rails. The Knife doesn't snap. I have the throws at max and I'll peg that stick and she will just flip over. The TopCap will snap but hell, it's a TopCap right? It is super responsive. So much so that I will have to crank up the expo more than usual. The highlight of the flight was my flat spin. I couldn't get it into it. I would wind up doing waterfalls. I entered it differently and caught the flattest spin of all time. This is on the Irvine .53 with silencer so the power isn't huge for a 5.4 lbs plane. When I hit that flat spin it locked in and stayed. It didn't go up and didn't go down. It was beautiful man!
I didn't set my timer so I brought her in. There was enough gas in the tank to land (it died after I touched down). It was amazingly tail heavy. It wanted to stay nose up. I would point it down and when I would go to give just a touch of up ele the nose would be in an alpha position. I got her in (nicely too) but I will pull some of that weight off the tail. Now I wish the tank was in the wing!

sounds awsome! mine should be awsome

If I put an OS.46FX on mine will I need lead anywhere to balance it?

Were you able to get me the Knife and engine file for G2? Thought I gave you my address. Thanks in advance_bob
[email protected]

aww man ... I'm eyeing up that topcap arf on the morris site ...

i just gotta check the bank account and see if I can afford it... hmmm does morris take Amex?

also were can i get a good price on an irvine engine?

Go here for the files:
http://www.the******************.com

The TopCap is touuuuuuchy. Landing is always a real thrill. I'm going to go and check the CG this weekend. I may be flying an extremely tail heavy plane. Talk about sensitive ele!

I'll try it out_bob

Billy, I would check your CG. Mine lands real easy. Yours is probably a little tail heavy.

i set mine tail heavy (5 1/4")and dialed in 60% expo, it is very touchy, but sure does fly good.... mine flew tail low too, I moved it to 4 3/4"
and it flies great now. I goofed last weekend and pancaked it from 15 feet, My fuse held up fine.Landing gear was flattened But the arf covering being arf covering is startin to peel. I am gonna stip it and recover it.I ll check it real close then

I had mine also very tail touchy and flying it on a transmitter without expo capability CG was about 5 3/4 after adding some weight. Oh boy..... I really had to fight it to land without crashing. Hovering however was just awsome . After about 3 flights I decided to move the CG forward to 4 1/2, and I have been flying her like this since. It still is a very touchy plane if flying on high rates. I almost always have to trim her out due to wind directions and speed. Otherwise I love her. my everyday flyer.
Billy, do you like the Knife better for hovering, and all over performance ? I am thinking of either getting a Knife or CG Extreme 330. Really wondering which one hovers and performs better ?

I still suck in the hovering dept. There is no one to teach me and I am only getting 15 minutes a day of real stick time. Since I keep building new planes and tweaking them I seem to spend most of my flying getting them to feel right. I'm getting better with my knife edge and flat spins. Everyday I say I'm just going to start flying the Knife again and concentrate on her. Then I talk myself into puttin the TopCap in the trunk. I was right about the CG. It was at least 5 and 1/2 inches back. So the good news is I can handle her with an extreme rearward CG. I moved it to 4 and 3/4 and will try it in the morning. It should make flying much easier instead of me announcing to others "BRINGING IN A TAIL HEAVY PLANE!!!".
I'll have to fly the TopCap balanced before I can judge her. I will say that I love the Knife. I got the ailerons dialed in for knife edge and she does that very well. I also can get great flat spins out of her and I don't think Knife's are supposed to be good at flat spins.
With the Ultrathrust I have had to totally relearn how to fly the Knife. If you hit the sticks for a stanard inverted flat spin she will just flip over and over and never move up or down. I'm having to enter the spin at 1/2 throttle to keep it calm and then work into a spin.
I don't know about the CG Exteme but did read a post that said it was great compared to the Morris kits. My Knife is nimble and tough. I would buy another if I crashed it.

Check you c.g mine was very tail heavy on the 1st flight I fixed that and it is really easy to land even Harrier Landings.

It is also easy to hover.

another pic:

another

I moved the CG to 4 and 3/4 and man it was a different plane. Tracked well, no sensitive ele and I even put her into a nice hover. I just couldn't land it! I was getting used to landing a tail heavy plane then all of a sudden I had a plane that wanted to point down instead of up! I just had to get used to it.
Flew the Knife the next day and it was a totally different plane. More forgiving. Not as precise. But fun fun fun!~
Back to the TopCap.
I took pictures of the scab I made (or the scale). It looks big but the crack started at the bottom, wound around the wing and tuned right and headed to the back of the canopy. It is super thick but I don't think I'll be cracking it again! If I didn't over build it I know I would have worried with every hard touch down.

under the wing...

What did you use for the scab, billy? I busted up my SuDoKhoi the other day.... and just ended up soaking the area with some thin CA... worked fine and flys great..... I still have a problem with my pull pull though.... not as smooth as I would like...

I can't remember the size. I went to the LHS and looked at all of his hard wood. I picked the first thickness that didn't flex. I know it is overkill. I figured it needed a little tail weight anyway!