Doug,
Thanks for the objective (well, as objective as possible) review of the electric planes. I was never able to watch all the plance, and obviously haven't seen mine from the outside.
Speed has always been a concern for me. At the NW regionals, I was flying at about 5.35 sec/lap. At home in Deer Park, flying mostly at a density altitude if 3500 feet, I was going about 5.4 sec/lap. However, when I got to Muncie, everything changed.
Well, there's more to the story. At the NW regionals I was using a 25-10 and things worked fine. Son after that contest, I went back to the "ranch" (Deer Park) and started immediately having overheating issues with the ESC. After several shut downs because of this, I switched back to the 20-16, and the heating issue was completely resolved. However, the plane didn't fly as well with 1 ounce less nose weight. After several switches back and forth between the 25-10 and the 20-16, I concluded is was simply the nose weight. I added clay to balance it and all was good (I thought).
Forward to Muncie. Early flights showed less than perfect penetration in the overheads (as we have heard earlier). Vertical performance was also acceptable, but not as good as home. After some adjusting, (tip weight, LO's, wing level) it was better. I added some extra noseweight and things were better. It was in the form of clay on the outside of the nose. Monday was appearance judging, so back to the motel and off with the outside clay. I intended to add it to the inside before appearance judging. Somehow I managed to forget. I flew the rest of the time being more tail heavy than I wanted. This also forced a faster speed to get the penetration in the wind I needed. That's how it flew it's competition flights. In the calm, it was matching David, but in the wind, it was less than perfect. I couldn't figure out why. On Friday night before the finals, I mentioned to Don (my coach) that I toiught I should add some nose weight. He didn't think it wise to be changing something like that at that time. I left it was it was.
After the finish of the finals, Bob Hunt had me fly his plane. His is balanced significantly more nose heavy than mine. It flew slower, but held out just fine. On the drive home it became crystal clear. I WAS flying too tail heavy, and it cost me. When I got home, I replaced the 20-16 with a 25-14. This combination worked much better, and once again feels like it did at the NW regionals. There are a few other changes I am going to make all in hope of making it present slower but more positive.
Your other comment about how the "lift" through the corners is sooooo true. For the life of me, I can't get them to turn like an IC plane. However, I still think my corners are "adequate" in terms of radius.
Once again, thanks for your comments. I intend to use this information to make this plane better!
Paul