I built one for the Poway CSR. Came out very light, thanks to mini elevator servo, rx, and micro wing servos. Kit Bashing: The instructions were clear and very easy, however, spell check is the keyword here. The drawings aren't fancy, but there are plenty of them. I had no questions or puzzlement's about what Pat Bowman intended. However! The construction sequence seemed odd to me. He said to finish shaping and covering the wing and fuse BEFORE installing the radio gear. To me, cutting through the structural strapping tape to insert the gear is silly. So I did it the conventional way and it turned out beautifully. Neat trick #1 - he uses two carbon rods joined with a steel tube and silicone them into the wing. Strong, secure, flexible. Neat trick #2 - I loved the simplicity and strength of his "compressed tape" hinges. He even provides spacing shim blocks to take the guesswork out of it for first timers. His instructions recommend NOT gluing the stab into place, so I didn't, but I strengthened the vertical stab assembly by cutting two small slits into the corroplast and wrapping strapping tape through it and around the fuse. I did this before I covered the fuse in packing tape. Pucker time. Test Toss: I thought I had the CG right with 1 oz of lead in the nose, but ended up needing another 1/2 oz to get it to fly about right. First launch (with correct cg): Throwing out the plane is awkward because to the wing position on the fuse. I choose to grab it by the nose and overhand fling it out. Each time I do that though, it heads down in a hurry before I recover and pull up. It recovers great and isn't any problem, just odd. Odd enough that I actually mixed in a Start mode with some up elevator to compensate! This thing flies fast and turns tight! I pulled away from Steve Pattons' fast ME-162 (?) on the downwind leg and gained on him in the corner too. But my unsteady thumbs' technique would bleed off my velocity and he would then pass me on the upwind leg. (He's a MUCH better pilot than I). Slow speed performance wasn't as good as I hoped, in regards to it's light weight (maybe 24 oz?). It definitely likes to keep the energy up in high gear. Inverted performance was excellent! Nearly dead on, zero stick. The lift was too light to try outward loops, but elevator control seems more than sufficient. I was disappointed with the initial roll rate, but I can twiddle around and get that to improve. Just need more flight time. Summary: Good price, easy build, great plane. Nathan Woods Temple Hill Slope Squadron Orange, California [EMAIL PROTECTED] Check out the THSS Website at: http://home.earthlink.net/~windrider007/index.html Bill Swingle wrote: "BASHer Tim was recently impressed by Pat Bowman's new Commanche kit. So much so that he immediately bought one, built it and brought it to the BASH. Not long after his arrival, Tim was quickly preparing his new Commanche to fly. I pretended to be an eager helper by carrying his transmitter to the slope. I couldn't wait to try the new plane and I started doing my best to talk him into just launching the plane so that I could have the first flight. Which he did, inverted! What a pal! The Commanche thought it was a great idea and flew great right from his hand. I started really having fun with it and didn't want to give it back. To be honest I'm quite tempted to declare it the best thing since sliced bread! However, I must remind myself that the lift was quite good which always makes a plane look it's best. So, I'll reserve some accolades and just say Yeowza I liked it. It turns great, flys inverted exceptionally and looks killer. Southern California pilots please help me out. What do you guys think of it??? Was it the lift or the plane???" RCSE-List facilities provided by Model Airplane News. Send "subscribe" and "unsubscribe" requests to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
