Life is full of surprises. I've built probably a hundred or so control line planes since 1955, six dedicated stunt ships in the last ten years. On the IMPcat "G", just about ready for primer, I tried to cover all the bases...I've included all the trimming mechanisms, but hopefully built it accurately enough that their use will be minimal.
I took the ship to a DMAA meeting recently to "Show-n-Tell" and admitted that it looked a little like a pregnant whale, when to my surprize, Bill Lee (I believe it was) noted it cannot be a pregnant whale because it is a "male whale"! As Gomer says, "Surprise, surprise!". I care not its gender, I just hope there are no more surprises and this plane flies itself.....dg
Some particulars: Down and right thrust, zero wing incidence, one degree up stab LE, "Hi-Zoot" Rush Stabilizer, piped PA75, Morris controls (a'la Jim Snelson), Bob Hunt lost foam wing (straight and true), 63 ozs target weight, three weekends, and still counting, of ROliver's building& finishing school, testing his patience to the max.
The point? I've learned more about trimming in the last month than all the years before, and this plane hasn't even flown yet. Trimming may not be a black art, but it is close. Another little item, I've never really flown a "good" stunt ship, say one of Paul's or Windy's or Ted's, but I flew Richard's recently and I think it is imperitive that one knows what we're trimming for, ie, just how does a good, well-trimmed plane handle? In a word, it's wonderful.