Not only do we have another ECL flyer to add to our western collection of 5, but we have a WINNER! Mark took home a very cool 1st place trophy from the big contest in WA this past weekend. 

Mark made his very 1st ECL flights at the contest on Fri., then took 3rd place in Combined Classic on Sat (6th ECL flight?), then 1st place I on Sun. ! Well done Mark!!!!

Mark worked hard all week getting his ECL plane together and set up. Mark is a very dedicated CLPA flyer, he has to drive 400+ mi. each way, to any CL contest. When he recovers from his journey I'm sure he will give us more details.

Mike Palko was kind enough to answer a late night call to try and overnight a Z.4 timer to Mark. Mark lives so far from the rest of the world that even a "Bridge to Nowhere" can't get to his home. The last miles of the timers journey were via Pony Express and just missed making it. Mark got a servo and battery from a friendly RC guy and make a last min. test unit to setup his JMP timer. It worked fine all weekend. When he did get his Z.4 timer on Sun eve. he said it was PERFECT and he will install it when he gets home. It has the "Way Cool" remote pot (AKA NV).

Mark said he will try and post some photos for us to see. Mark is a great addition to our ECL group because he is a master builder and an artist with paint. I look forward to seeing some of his beautiful future ECL projects. 

PS: For the other half of this happy story, please see Mark's "Jessica" post in the OPEN section of SH. :-)

Regards 

Thanks
My plane is my old WET P-40 that suffered through all the indignities associated with slimey castor and nitro. I had to recover the wings when the covering let loose before I could convert it to modern spark ignition,, hehe, lol, small joke there,, It fought me because there was some fuel soaking but I managed to get it covered again, the wings are yellow now so its a psuedo trainer if you will. I am using the Axi 28-26-10, with Evo 42709 Mah batteries, 4S. Castle Creations 45 amp ESC and for the weekend I used my JMP timer. Mike did get the new V4 to me but to late to change out for the contest. I used the APC 12x6 e prop, again further refinment there as I have time but it was working to well to mess with for the contest. Initially I talked to both Mike and Rudy several times throughout the week. My plan was just to take it with me and get some flying time in. Paul Walker was going to be there so I was hoping if I needed help to pick his brain. as it turned out, I got in four flights friday night before the contest and it was workign so well I decided to fly it in Profile on Saturday. As it turns out, we had some turbulant air but the beast pulled through just fine and I flew probably the best pattern I have ever flown in the second round. The one change I did make was to take out a bunch of tip weight after my first flight, I had forgotten that by mounting that battery on the outside of the fuse, It acted like tip weight and Paul mentioned that I might want to take some,, well ok so a lot of tip weight out, it was hinging pretty bad!
I averaged battery draw right at 3200 mah per flight. I am on 63.5 foot lines eye to eye, all up weight is 56 oz. I should mention that the P-40 profile is a Brodak and I did add dihedral to it (see my post from last year about doing the dihedral)
My programming numbers from the ESC are locked away in my laptop at home,, but pretty much what Rudy uses except I think I changed the brake setting which incidently I believe is what allows my ESC to recognize the end of flight burps. I think I set it on 100% and hard maybe? I did get the end of flight burps. I am running in Gov hi mode. total run time is 640 of which the first 15 sec or so are spooling up while I walk out. I wasnt totally happy where I have it but it was workable as it was so rather than fidget before the contest I left it where it was. I was turning 9060 RPM by my tach. My lap times were 5.2 to 5.28 depending on something? wind mostly I think.
I flew it in Profile, and finished third,, then again since I was pretty happy with it I flew it in Intermediate on Sunday, temps were about 15 degrees warmer and more sunshine than on saturday and imagine this, my engine runs were identical,, hmm how fascinating?!!
I did in fact win my Intermidiate class on sunday which was a minor highlight considering all I enjoyed with Jessica and her first contest.
long story short, Yes I am very veyr happy with it. I do beleive I have room for improvement in my airframe trim, and I think there is room for improvement in prop selection but its totally turn key, workable and very very satisfactory the way it is.
Things I am looking at to improve, a lighter scratch built airframe, this one is pretty heavy even as a glow plane. and props,, some minor tweaking of the settings , to shorten the run time about 20 seconds and allow a bit more wait time at the front end of the flight. but if I were to change nothing, I think it would still be at least equal to or better than this airframe when it was wet, and I got a good engine run.
Thanks for all the patient answers Rudy and Mike!

Well Mike, there is a lot of truth to that, I have read a lot, talked a bit, and listened. You and Rudy especially, and everyone on here are the reason that it was a success. I have some ideas to play with. One is that I think there is a difference at least in my plane with where the cg wants to be with an electric. I have it in the same place it was when this model was wet with an LA 46. Not sure why but its still really hard to initiate turns with, and based on landings it may be nose heavy. at least now i can go practice after work without carrying fuel starter, ignitor blah blah blah,, and still make it home for dinner cause I dont have to clean up the fuel residue.
thanks again guys,,
to say I am happy with it is an understatement! To be able to basically plug and play a system that is this effective is phenomenal. I cant wait to see what I can learn and progress . I am already designing well mentally anyway, a dedicated design for it to take advantage of the lack of vibration and to get the batteries closer to the cg.
again, thanks