I admit it. I enjoy a good challenge, especially where getting my money's worth is concerned.

To wit, the continuing saga of the little Bearcat park flyer which has been the subject of my last few blog postings.

I sent it up for a test flight and as luck would have it, the elevator was way out of trim. Far too much up, which wasn't an issue on the previous flight.

This, of course, made it difficult to fly...

I brought it around for a landing, bounced the landing and broke what was left of the original wooden motor mount. A close inspection revealed that the plastic factory motor adapter was damaged from the previous mishap.

Another thing which was readily apparent was far too aggressive a prop for the old motor I installed as a temporary measure. More on that in a moment. What to do? The answer came in the guise of the parts removed from the Flyzone Cessna which had given up some of its components.

I already had most of what I needed from an E-flite firewall stick mount adapter system; the mount itself was cut down to fit the Cessna and was too short for the Bearcat.

Five bucks later, I had the adapter and the strongest possible motor mount. It looks like a factory setup, in fact.

Another test flight, another mishap. The Bearcat was ballistic! Maybe too much so. One of the screws holding the prop adapter shaft worked loose, causing the shaft to cock over to one side. And boy, was that motor hot. As I'd pointed out, too much prop on a high-revving motor with an unknown Kv rating. That's what I get for not checking the setup with a wattmeter beforehand.

Conclusion: The airframe is dialed in. I just have to get the other motor back from the hobby shop and I'll be in business.

I'll post some photos once it's all together.

Warbird fans, listen up:

The new FMS Kawasaki Ki-61 High Speed PNP from Diamond Hobby is a blast!

An official RCGroups.com review is waiting in the wings for public viewing. Stay tuned!

In the meantime, more weirdness regarding that doggoned little Thunder Tiger Bearcat.

I swung by Pegasus Hobbies a couple of weekends ago since I happened to be in the area. Tony at the airplane desk is a terrific help. He sold me a brand new cowl and told me that he had a lot of those planes on hand for parts. Cool!

On went the cowl, up went the Bearcat.

It flew great, but the elevator was acting twitchy. I brought it in, added some more expo, took off and all seemed well for the first few seconds.

That's when the motor's endbell decided to part company with the rest of the motor.

It isn't often one has to do a dead stick landing with an electric, but I did. Good one, too. No damage other than some minor breakage of the wooden motor mount due to the forces involved.

Everything is back together, but the motor is missing a bearing. I've left it with a buddy at the hobby shop who'll check the parts bin for a replacement.

I also have a no-name brushless outrunner I used to use on my ancient (and recently dissected and discarded) E-flite Blade CP. I've ordered a prop adapter; we'll see how this one works.