Hi John. Thanks for the suggestion. I picked the ICE 50 because I thought that it might fit into the cowl. When I ordered it I hadn't built the fuselage yet, so I wasn't sure of the volume I'd have to work with in the cowl. After I built the cowl I found that it was about three-quarters of an inch long to get it into the cowl. Also, getting the larger wires behind the motor was a problem with such a short nose on the airplane. I like your suggestion for a less expensive ESC. The CC ICE isn't a cheap item compared to other ESC's I've seen. Lots of nice features to be sure, but I'm not smart enough yet to appreciate them all.
I did use the data logging when I first powered it up. The motor would pulse once and then, nothing. I learned a lot about the ICE 50 because I thought I had a compatibility problem with the KR timer. After going through EVERY possible settings combinations on the ICE 50, I decided to try the data logging. Then I noticed that the 'burp' was very low amplitude (power) and it finally dawned on me that if I wait longer (patience, George) that could be the issue. Of course it was the issue. I forgot that the KR timer has a 25 second (factory set and adjustable) delay between the initial 'burp' and the actual start-up. I 'knew' that, I read it in the documentation, but promptly forgot it. Everything was good. My friend from Germany would say in his german accent, "it purrrrrrs like a schicken". I think he meant kitten, but I'm not so sure.
As for the cooling vent in the cowl, there is one there now (see one of the photos above with the cheek on the table top) but I don't believe it would be enough to cool an ESC. The timer hasn't shown any signs of overheating yet.
Test flight day is approaching. Snow pack is down to about six inches now and the temps are getting close to 40F during the days. Maybe June.
George