Started assembly last night. Hope to have it completed early next week and plan on a maiden flight next week (weather permitting).

Overall impressed with the covering and assembly of the components. Futaba S3114's fit very well into the wing.
Went with Rimfire .10 and Thunderbird 36, 3S 1800 to start, since it was available from my LHS along with the kit.
Radio will be my 2.4GHz Multiplex Cockpit SX.

I took a early lunch and went and picked one up from the LHS... I couldn't wait.
I have a Phoenix 35 and am hoping to pick up a Rimfire 10 and some servos shortly. I likely won't use the LG at all. It's been my experience with planes this size that they just rip out anyway.

Originally Posted by Mr. Wiz

I likely won't use the LG at all. It's been my experience with planes this size that they just rip out anyway.

Too bad this will be a touch-and-go machine....



Mike

Originally Posted by pda4you

Too bad this will be a touch-and-go machine....



Mike

I don't have any pavement to fly from and in fact I intend to mostly fly it in a park like setting where the grass will be too rough for that.

I bet there is a track or parking lot or something in all of Fenton.

But I get it...

Mike

Originally Posted by pda4you

I bet there is a track or parking lot or something in all of Fenton.

But I get it...

Mike

Nope. Complete wilderness.. except a few parks. I just don't like to fly in those settings. Too many people to get in the way, if you know what I mean.

OK. I've got everything now except the servos. I'm tempted to try some of those dirt cheap ones from HK. Anybody have any experience with HK servos?

Just getting started myself.
McD

Should be right there with you real soon on this one Mike

Ah... Just going to go with the old standby HS55 servos. Not enough of a savings to get the dirt cheap HK servos... plus they're not in stock.

Looks good Mike....

Here's my first build tip:

Install ALL of the decals BEFORE you start your build!

This will be a lot easier to accomplish on each individual part. As an example, the decal on the bottom of the wing is a lot easier to apply before the landing gear and the servo and aileron linkage are installed.

McD

Originally Posted by kingsflyer

Here's my first build tip:

Install ALL of the decals BEFORE you start your build!

This will be a lot easier to accomplish on each individual part. As an example, the decal on the bottom of the wing is a lot easier to apply before the landing gear and the servo and aileron linkage are installed.

McD

^ + 1
I also went with the USAF decal option.
Wing is complete, moving onto the tail and fuselage next.

Originally Posted by ltc

Wing is complete, moving onto the tail and fuselage next.

My #2 son is Air Force, so that's why I used them.

One quick question ---- How is your red MonoCote on your Contender. It was very hard to get the wrinkles out of the red on mine.

McD

One thing for people to keep in mind when trying to get the wrinkles out of their Monokote. Different colors shrink at slightly different temperatures. If you are working in an area where there are two or more colors watch the seams carefully. As you try to pull out that one stubborn wrinkle in one color you can inadvertently over shrink the other color causing the seam to come apart.

My first tip: Use an iron over a heat gun in these areas. The heat gun is more effective at removing wrinkles but it's also easier to over do it, IMHO and cause the problem I mentioned above.

Second tip: Be prepared to allow a little bit of a stubborn wrinkle to remain. A small wrinkle looks better that a seam that has pulled apart or even one where the seam line is no longer straight.

Of course, these are standard Monokote colors. If you really screw up a section, you can always tear off the messed up area and re-cover it. That's one of the advantages of getting a ARF like this one over some of the other imports that use unknown covering material.

I like the idea above of putting the stickers on prior to assembling. I'm sure that is a lot easier. I personally haven't decided to use any of the stickers... Maybe but I'll likely choose to trim it in a more personal fashion.

I picked up a new Rimfire 35-30-1250 here in the for sale section. It has the same specs as the Rimfire .10 but I paid $10 less and the shipping was thrown in. I think it's just an older labeled version of the same motor. I also picked up a couple new HK 3S 2200 25C batteries. They are a little on the porky side but I couldn't pass up the price. If I end up liking the way the plane flies I may pop for a TP G6 Pro Light pack to save some weight.

Keep up the good work guys. I'm really looking forward to reading your flight reports.

Mike