Hey guys, my Maverick Pro is finally ready for it's maiden tomorrow.
Power is an FTE-500 and dry weight is right at 16lbs.

Any pointers or things to watch for?
It has split flaps, how effective will they be along with the nose gear door at slowing down the plane?
Will it need some elevator trim with the flaps deployed?

Any tips are appreciated.

I would make sure it had a set of stall strips on the inboard section of the leading edge. Im not sure about the Mav Pro, but the standard Mavericks had a bad tendencey to high speed stall, ie; when come out of a split "S", etc... I don't know where you can getthem but BVM use dto supplie them.

Ronnie, looks good. I have only flown the DF version, it was absolutely a nice flying plane. I used take-off flaps (1/2), it had zero bad tendencies in all flight configurations and required only slight down elevator with full flaps. I saw no high speed stall on split-S's or any other time. Mine was around 14 pounds, I have heard (read) about the turbine version being a little more prone to tip stall, but like I said, it is only hearsay from my point.

It should a very rewarding venture.

George

I have owned and flown a D/F MavPro and currently have a Compo Bandit/P-120........

As far as T/O, both planes start out nose heavy and can get squirrely unless you hold full up elevator during the roll and slowly release it in the early climb......neither plane has any tendency to balloon with this technique.....

In the air, both planes fly very similar......At 16 lbs, it is a good 2.5 lbs heavier than my D/F model so it might behave as expected as a higher wing loaded model......usual caveats.......watch the nose and bank angles when low and slow....if it tucks in turns, try moving C.G. back 1/4"......if it snaps out of loops, humpty pull-outs, or cubans, move C.G. forward 1/4" at a time.....

Landings, once you get the technique down are no brainers, except for the windiest days......aim for the edge of the runway approach end to be no more than about 5 feet high on, say, a 700 foot runway.....then chop and glide, keeping the nose up about 5 degrees......

The scariest moments come at touchdown..... with both planes, DO NOT release up elevator until the plane slows to a walking speed.....this will all but eliminate kangaroo hopping and PIO yaw oscillations.......

A tip from BV and Tommy.......preset the brakes if you can about 50-60% when landing.....also helps to prevent the hopping and yaw dance.......

Finally, without the belly speedbrake of the Bandit, it will be wanting to float a bit more......make sure you use all the flap you can get......I used 45 deg on my MP and Bandits......

John Banner, down in Florida has quite a few flights on a converted Maverick/RAM 500.......he occasionally checks in here.......give him an email or PM jingle.......

Tom

That's a nice Mav Ronnie [8D]

Where are you going to fly it?

I'm gonna try and fly it at the Dallas RC funfly tomorrow. The Cutlass will be making another apperance as well.

update:
Still not flown.
The nose gear broke on the takeoff roll.
That is being repaired, I also decided to put the FTE-500 back on my AV8R and now that Mav has a Simjet 1200 going in.
I probably wont get a chance to test fly it before Austin. Maybe I can get a test flight on it early one day in Austin?