I have wanted one of these kits for a while now, and I finally got one. I came back from vacation to find the package on my desk at work. The package was nicely put togeather with balsa, parts, and plans neatly and safly wrapped; sans damage.

I went to the LHS to finish out the shopping list for the plane. I just upgraded my GWS P-51 with a 400C, so I have the 300C that came with that kit already. I have 3 HiTech(HT) HS-55 servos from another kit I plan to salvage as well.

Here is what I have ended up with:

1 - HT Electron 6 Rx
1 - HT Crx (ch18)
5 - HT HS-55 servos
1 - Castle Creations Pixie-20P ESC
1 - GWS EPS-300C (370 @5.33:1)
3 - Sanyo AAA 9.6V 720 mAh packs
* I use a Futaba 6XAS Tx, and a Triton charger.

I took my time reading the instructions through. They seemd very sparse at first, but with a little deduction, they are not too bad. One complaint: The instructions could really use more parts mapping. Several times I have had a hard time figuring out which parts were being referred to.

Also, on the spar support, and spar seperator step I made a big BooBoo. Rest easy, it is fix now, but was a major pain to fix.

I glued the spar supports to the OUTSIDE instead of the INSIDE of the fusulage. Really a stupid mistake, however... The instructions could have been clearer here I believe, like I said I read them through BEFORE begining and then again for each step.

The main problem here was that the only real refernece was the b/w pic to show how it was mounted. Bottom line: I ended up taking 30 extra minutes to debond, slice, seperate, clean, sand, glue, and fix the step. At worst I ened up losing a bit of time, a little frustrated, losing a bit of strength, and adding a tiny bit of weight. DO NOT do this.

The first pic here shows what was complete within one (1), yes ONE hour. I have heard of the quick build of the MM line, but this was silly!

ISO view of 1 hour build:

Here is about 3.5 hours in. It got a little more detailed after the 1 hour mark.

Side view of 3.5 hour build

Hi Scott, looks like you got all the right electronics.

You're right about how easy the MM kits are to build. Fun too.

Can't wait to see it fly. Maybe it'll motivate me to build the one I've had sitting here for months.

The pics look great.

Wayne

Here you can see where I have made my first mod to the MiniFlash (MF). After reading here, not many have seen the need to mod the MF, as it is a great kit out of the box.

However, when looking at the route for the pushrods, I thought it could be possible for the pushrods to wear the balsa over time. I had a few spare pushrod guide tubes, so I drilled out the provided pushrod guild holes, and put in the pushrod sleeves. I then used CA to secure, making sure to pull a little extra on both entrence and exit.

I also tested, before caping the model, that the pushrods would indeed work with the sleeves.

Just above my left hand you can see the sleve(s) going back to the tail. If you look hard enough, in the pics above, you can see the sleeves exiting the rear of the fusulage.

More soon...

Aldur,

I will reword the manual about the spar supports. Thanks for the feedback.

If there are any other ambuguous areas, please drop me a note and I'll fix them.

It's too easy for me to take things for granted. I spend so much time designing it that I forget that my reasoning may not be clear.

Doug

I just built a Dandy (will post pics tomorrow on a new thread) and found that the only thing I would change is putting in pushrod guide tubes like Aldur did with his MiniFlash. Once my piloting skills get better I will be getting my own MiniFlash to build!

Hi Doug,

Here's a real minor one: in the instructions it says that the front motor mount support is slightly smaller than the one for the rear. Mine were exactly the same size (until after a few swipes on the sanding block).

I'm concerned that the motor mount is a likely area to need repair at some point - any thoughts about a good way to make the top cowling piece into a hatch for access? Thanks.

doodle,

I'll check that.

If you are going to cover your fuse, don't glue the top cowl on, have the covering hold it in place. I haven't tried that though.

Doug

I made the same comment to Doug when I got there - and Doug wrote back that they were, in fact, different. I looked again, and sure enough they were, but it sure wasn't by much.

Yeah, the motor mount pieces differ by maybe 0.5 mm.

For me, the most time-consuming thing so far is carving and sanding the balsa cowl blocks to shape, but even that's no big deal.

--Doug

Pics follow on wing.

Doug: Thanks for the feedback on my problem, it's rewarding to know that you would consider my feedback helpful. I have another issue where clarity may easily be enhanced within the MiniFlash manual for a builder such as me. Perhaps I will save them until the end and just email you them?

In any case, I want to personally thank you for a great product. I am not finished yet, and although this is my first full kit; I am having w great time building it. So thank you from all of us for your commitment to quality, your expertise in modeling, and your desire to share the gift of flight.


Okay! On to the build. I am happy to report that phase two is complete, and I had zero problems! As I mentioned there was one minor manual issue. This was where the servo support is glued to the wing. I will tripple check the pic vs. the words, but they appeard to be contrasting.

I BELIEVE the words should be more like: "Glue the servo support to the wing on the verticle spar, and the second rib, at the bottom of the wing."

The instructions say (not in front of me): "glue to.... verticle spar, and cap spar..." That would put the servo on the upper part of the wing, and the picture of the finished model shows the top of the wing clean, which means the servos are mounted on the bottom. Supporting this is the picture which shows the servo support placed to the bottom of the wing, far below the cap spar, which is at the top of the wing structure.

Doug, let me know if I am wrong, I certainly will not be offended...

Build time was less than an hour, so total build time for now is approx. 4 hours. (I put in for a mistake before, so I will even it out here.)

The instructions say to cover the wing BEFORE installing the servo, which will allow for a nice clean cover, but I am a bit worried about "grabbing" the servo wires via the little spar hole. I know I can do it, but I am tempted to mount the servo first to avoid it. However, I am not willing to trade off that for a crapy covering job due to the servobeing in the way.

As of now I have the fusulage, and right and left wings done.

To be done:
* Tail
* Canopy
* Electronics
* Cover
* Control surfaces
* Control hardware(rods, horns, etc...)
* Throws

Here is a shot of the wings from the front and above. One wing is right-side-up, and the other upside-down.

Same wings from directly above. Notice the servo mount "flush" with the bottom of the wing (in the bottom wing). Notice also, the servo mount inthe wing on top. You can see it is below the cap spar.

Here is an ISO of the wings. You can more clearly see the servo mounts, and servo mount supports. Nice design, just remember that the manul may seem misleading on this step.

Well, then again, I am a retard, so...