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in handling, but I’ve since removed themand haven’t noticed a significant changewith our without them except the stallisn’t as abrupt with the fences.At times I wish I had a little more elevatorcontrol in order to crank her tighteraround a turn without feeling I may stallher. Finesse is key in flying her, more sothan with my other TD ships as a lighthand on the elevator is required. Thismay be solved with moving the balancepoint further aft and adding the flapsto work as elevators. Thus more flighttesting is in order.The model was balanced at 8% staticmargin for the first few flights and latermoved back to 3% which proved to betoo far aft during the low speed highangle of attack landing portion of theflight. She really got overly pitch sensitiveduring landing.I’ve since moved the balance point backto 8% as she launches, soars and landsvery well.The landings are easy. She really slowsdown well with the large flap area andwith more practice spot landings arequite possible. F3J type landings havebeen obtainable from the first flight,however the USA style of precisionlandings will take more practice.CHANGES I’D MAKE IF I WERE TOBUILD ANOTHERSince the twist was reduced for anelectric model I chose to increase thewing sweep from 22.5 degrees to 25degrees at the quarter chord point whicheffectively increased the amount of twist.This reduced the overall wingspan to 95".I’m currently flying with approximately1/8" of reflex to maintain a nice thermalspeed.So if I were to build another Tinamou I’dchange the amount of twist from the 4.5degrees to the 8 degrees Herk originallyused. I’d also change where I have thewings joined, making the elevons longerand the flaps shorter, perhaps a 20%increase in elevon span.I’d probably leave the ’chute out as ittook quite a while to get it rigged properlyand the flaps are way more effective.I also would like to try different nonreflexedairfoils, such as the excellentDrela airfoils and perhaps a little bithigher aspect ratio.But these would be the only changes. I’mso very pleased with how easily she builtand how well she flies. Herk Stokely andDr. Panknin really know what they aredoing!Perhaps in the near future I may make aremovable fuselage pod that houses anelectric motor in the nose. The pod canbe held in place by slipping over the nosethen attached to the skeg. It’d be a verysimple on/off arrangement.CREDITSThere are a lot of people I’d like tothank, beginning with Herk Stokely whopatiently answered my daily emails formonths. Also Jeff Vrba, Jim Cooney,Shawn Keller, Norm Masters and thefolks at RCGroups.Photos and videos courtesy of JimCooney, Shawn Keller, Jeff Vrba andmyself.There is a build thread at RCGroups ifyou’re interested. VIDEOS’Chute video Flight video compilation My website: nOctober 2008 77