I rec'd my Miss Winds last week and spent a couple afternoons putting it together. I'm not a die hard pattern flyer, more like a scale/jet flyer who really likes the flying characteristics of precsion pattern planes. The Miss Winds is a very sharp looking model, and struck me as one that I can put in the car and take out ready to fly within a few minutes....with very little worry. I had the first 3 flights on it today and it lived up to it's reputation. Clean and predictable. I really enjoyed it.

I have put it together pretty much stock. I used the Hacker A50-16s with an APC 16x10E prop, Hyperion G3 VX 6s 5000mAh pack. Could go with lighter as I only put about 2K back in them, but I have a half dozen packs for my high powered EDF models so it lets me go to the field without any charging gear and still fly quite a bit. I have the CC Phoenix Ice 100 controller and the data logger worked seamlessly (not that it was needed as I didn't tax the unit on the first few flights).

I made a couple minor changes:

1. I added a pilot and cockpit floor. I have a phobia about flying planes without pilots....afterall it's not an airplane without a pilot and this model is no different.

2. I added a pair of Ernst charge plug receptacles for the upper wing servos to plug into. Much easier to do while installing the wing, and only takes one hand to do it. I always orient the black lead (I'm a Futaba guy) to the back....per AC/DC, back in black...

3. I used some 1" lengths of shrink tubing on the CF rods. Blue and red depending on the covering color at that location.

4. Wired the lower wing aileron servo leads with 6-pin Ashlok connector. Allows for only one connection, and it locks which is nice for a loose connection in the fuse.

5. I put a small film of epoxy on the top of the hatch washer so that the bolt head would a fix to it when tightened down. This is nice as it stops the bolt and washer from falling out when you remove the hatch.

6. I used 2-56 linkage on the rudder, as the supplied control rod was too short for the forward servo position. I also changed out the wheels to a hangar 9 set I had that were slightly larger and narrower. Worked fine on our grass field.

7. I'll likely modify the wing bags by removing the velcro on one side....they are a total pain to deal with as they are supplied.

Think that's about it...here are a few pics showing the noted changes.

Nice. It's a nice flying plane, really excels at precision/pattern

I've been looking at this, my SebArt Katana is just a beautiful plane. Are the carbon rods extending from the wings just pins through the cabanes? Would balance be a problem with a lighter pack. I've got the same motor and some 6S TP 45C 3800 packs.

I just picked up a 3DHS Velox at Toledo, but may need one of these next. Thanks for the pictures, it looks like a beautiful plane.

Azarr

Here's a Miss Wind 50 "walkaround"

Particolari Miss (2 min 7 sec)

Looks like there'd be room to move the battery to adjust CG. Anybody confirm this?

edit: http://www.hacker-motor.com/deutsch/ lists a couple of different suggested setups:
5S Setup
A50-14S
MasterBASIC 70SB
APC Thin Electric 16x10
1x TopFuel Hacker 30C 3800mAh 5S

6S Setup
A50-16S
MasterBASIC 70SB
APC Thin Electric 16x10
1x TopFuel Hacker 30C 3800mAh 6S

Originally Posted by Azarr

Are the carbon rods extending from the wings just pins through the cabanes? Would balance be a problem with a lighter pack.

Yes Azarr, the rods go through the wings and capture the cabanes in 2 spots. Quite a nice design as long as you don't catch yourself of the pins sticking out. They are a nice fit too allowing no movement of the wings. Also makes assembly easy and quick.

Balance is not a problem as there is quite a bit of room to move the battery. I have a 6s pack and would think that this would be rearward about as far as you would need. This position does not allow for 2 wraps of velcro as you can't get at the rear one. I put a pce of 1/4sq across the fuse about 2/3 of the way back to capture the rear of the pack, and then use one wrap of velcro at the front to secure it. I can take some pics if needed. No added weight is needed.

strictlyscale: Thanks for your reply, this is definitely on my must have list, as soon as my bank account cools down from Toledo.

Azarr

Here's a couple pics of my battery installation. As noted, the 6s pack needs to go back quite a ways making it difficult to add a velcro wrap to the rear of the pack. I have a 'stop' on the floor to prevent the pack sliding rearward, as well as a 1/4 sq bar across the bulkhead to hold the rear in place. The front in velcroed in place. I little sandpaper keeps the pack fixed from sliding and a couple more 1/4 sq scraps stop it from sliding forward. I'm finding I'm a little nose heavy at the moment so may need to tweak the location a little to move the pack back a bit, or add a small weight in the tail. I may do that first until I nail down the best CG, then use the battery position to allow removal of the weight.

I got 5 more flights this morning (I have 5 6s packs so I don't need to wait for charging at the field...very efficient ). I'm averaging about 7-7.5 mins of flight time and putting about 2300-2500mAh back in the 5k packs. I'll continue to watch this as I get more comfortable and wring out the model more and more. I've pulled no more than 64.4Amps on the controller so maybe I could have go away with a light ESC than the phoenix Ice 100. I do like the data it provides however.

For inspiration for those on the fence about getting this model.

http://airtoimedia.nl/web/upload/vdVechten/MissWind.wmv