X-20: Almost Ready To Go!

Well, I got my parts in from HeadsUpRC.com a few days ago, but I was held up a bit getting my newest little plane in the air. You see, it's hot here in Waco, Texas. I don't mean warm - I mean damn HOT! My 11 year old home AC unit went out again and the indoor temperatures in my home got up to 94 degrees! The AC repairman should be out tomorrow afternoon, but I couldn't bear trying to sleep in this house like this again another night, so I spent the day shopping for a small (8000btu) window unit to put in the bedroom to get us by. I got it installed about 2 hours ago, so finally some relief!

Working in the mornings before the temperatures crept up too high, I was able to get the motor, ESC, and radio gear installed. I was also able to manage a nice magnetic canopy hold-down latch to keep the canopy in place in flight, but allow easy removal of the battery for charging.

Where's the battery, you ask? It's all the way in the front so that I can get the correct CG. The neat thing about using the smaller LoongMax 3s500 battery is that I can save weight. This plane is completely built except for some color on the wings and the control linkages for the elevons. Right now I am at 5.8 ounces (164 grams) all up weight!

On another note, I have been talking with Jason Forsythe, the designer of this plane, and he has advised that he's very close to another very cool design! It's Top Secret right now, but I am hoping to share information on it very soon. I am certain that I will be building one!!

I am hoping that I will be able to maiden this plane this coming weekend, as the wife's work schedule compliments my getting away without a 3 and 6 year old in tow! I am gonna try the old hat-cam again and see if I can pull off some better video than I did earlier with the Cosmic Wind maiden. For what it's worth, I AM in the market for a camera that better facilitates ground to air video than my FlyCamOne. I just haven't yet found the perfect balance between performance and CHEAP! If any of you out there can point me in the direction of a decent (used is okay!) vid cam that allows me to shoot my flights cheaply, and still be able to author my video on my Mac, I will gladly accept your suggestions!!