Sorry it's been a while for this one, but here's the latest. JP and Jack came out to the contest at the end of April, but at that time I hadn't made lines yet, and the engine hadn't been run or adjusted in the airplane, only on the bench. They took the airplane home, and the next day they ran the engine and made some preliminary adjustments. Sadly, Jack died that very night, so he never got to see the Guardian fly.
JP and I both still wanted to see it fly, so he left the airplane with me so I could build lines. Contest season spooled up and I got busy with that, so I didn't get the lines made until last weekend. I called JP and told hit it was time to make it fly.
I got to fly it three times today. The engine idled and ran very nicely below about half throttle, but did not want to draw fuel at full throttle. After a couple of flights we changed from the original Evolution 60NX carb barrel to a smaller bore 46 barrel. This would run at a higher throttle setting, but still quit if I opened it too far. (Next, we are going to eliminate the remote needle and go direct to the carb.) In spite of this problem, it seemed like the airplane was going to be fast, and I was able to fly the airplane in slow speed quite successfully. This is the first Sterling Guardian that I have flown, and maybe they're all like this, but this airplane flies beautifully! With the flaps dropped and the rudder deflected, I didn't detect any changes in handling, but I do think that it did fly a bit slower in the "dirty" configuration. Flying as fast as I was able, the airplane grooved well and was not touchy, yet there was enough elevator authority to hold the nose up a "nostalgia-correct" amount.
Other than the high throttle issue, I didn't feel that anything about this airplane needed to be changed. I am looking forward to getting the engine sorted out, and being able to post a score with this airplane at our October contest.
Nice job JP. I think Jack would be pleased.