[chrism]

FMS P-40
- 1400 mm wing span
- 2.2kg flying weight
- foam construction
- 4 cell 3000 mAh battery
- 20g ballast added to nose
Had its maiden flight this morning at McCoy, the conditions were just about right in my book - little to no wind, nice runway and not to dull given the cloudy conditions.
First roll down runway indicated I need more elevator or it is nose heavy - it got to take-off speed and still wanted to nose over. Aborted take-off & adjusted sub trim with more up elevator.
Second attempt we got into the air, roll trim not bad but rates too high for initial flight testing, elevator still required a lot of trimming (lots of back stick needed to hold her level) and rudder OK. Retracts worked well and flaps didn't make her balloon although I had mixed in 10% of down elevator. Trimmed her as best I could while flying and did some circuits and couple of rolls then decided to make an approach to land. Flaps lowered and gear down she flew quite level (no nose up attitude), came in from western end of strip with next to no throttle but with good speed, she floated by the pilot box 30cm off the ground then rolled out and nosed over (typical tail dragger warbird).
As I had not used all the battery I went for another take-off after adjusting the sub-trims (more up elevator) and reducing the rates on aileron (low rate only). This time I rolled out she turned left off to the edge of the strip so I again aborted the take-off but she did just get airborne - a little hard landing on the right leg resulted.
Adjusted the sub-trim on the rudder and then took off without a problem, she climbed very scale like and did a single of circuits without incident, still trimming her and gear down. Came into land with flaps and she floated nicely down the runway and again nosed over.
Conclusion, I may have too much ballast on the nose and the retracts are playing up - one is stuck down while the other is not running smoothly at all. Plus I need to research the ESC to see if anyone has had issues with it.

Chris M