Well, sorta kinda.

The Thunder Tiger Bearcat park flyer I've been blogging about had, as I suspected, far too much control surface throw and no expo which meant some really gut-wrenching moments after takeoff.

Hoo boy, did it boogie when I settled down on the sticks. Fast, smooth and fun.

In all honesty, I can't help but wonder how many folks might have picked one up as a first plane and who soon discovered that flying it with the supplied radio and power system was unlikely to happen.

Result: Scores of disgusted hobbyists who lost interest in model aviation then and there.

The modified version is a whole 'nother deal.

That little Suppo outrunner pulled it with real authority as a Bearcat should and it glided forever on final approach. The touchy elevator made it difficult to flare and it came down kind of hard, but there was no damage other than a scratched cowl when it nosed over.

I do believe that I'll be flying the whee out of that little sleeper for a long time to come, that is, once I set it up on a computerized radio. The transplant was a raging success!

Now all I have to do is figure out what the heck I'm going to do with the original radio, batteries and motor...anyone?

When last we met here on the blogs, I wrote about my attempts to get a new Thunder Tiger Bearcat park flyer airborne.

To wit, a 370 brushed motor, ESC and gearbox, a delicate four-blade propeller and an eight-cell, 600mAh NiMH battery do not make for a rocket. In fact, it made for a model which patently refused to lift off. Good thing I tried an ROG takeoff as opposed to a hand launch. Would have been bad.

That's about to change.

Cap'n Eddy is just about ready to rock. After widening the inside of the wooden gearbox mounting plate with a Dremel, in went the nearly new Suppo 1450Kv brushless outrunner and 18A ESC combo I'd bought at the AMA expo about four years ago. Pegasus Hobbies in Montclair, California sold the Bearcat to me at this year's AMA expo as well as the Thunder Tiger brushless motor mount via mail order.

The Suppo had been languishing in a rebuilt Flyzone Cessna 182 park flyer. That model was at one time another great example of why brushed motors can't compare to brushless.

Once severely underpowered, the Cessna became a lively, fun-to-fly model with one major design flaw: Banking too far - and it didn't take much - would cause the wing to stall and there was no way to get control once that happened. It was flown on another nearly new item, a Tactic TTX404 sport radio and receiver with no means of adjusting the servo end points. I had grown more than tired of fixing or replacing parts.

It's been stripped and the foam components await their ultimate fate out at the recycling bin. Requiescat in pace.

I'm awaiting the arrival of an APC 7x5E propeller at the hobby shop on Friday. I already have some 1000 and 1050mAh 3S li-pos which are a perfect fit and which allow the model to balance properly.

The overall combo is similar in size and power to the Ares Decathlon I'm reviewing for RCG. I'll simply say that the Decathlon is not only fun, it's fast. So too was the Cessna.

Cap'n Eddy is just going to have to wait until the weekend. Stay tuned.