Today is about as good as the weather is going to get for a while, upper 30's, sunny, winds at about 10 MPH. Still plenty of snow on the ground, but the roads are clear and dry, as was the small cul-de-sac I often fly from.
After checking the controls and radio programming again this morning I grabbed a couple 1000mAh 3 cell packs and headed out. Surprisingly, recommended throws aren't included with the kit so I did a little guessing based on how the Red Swans fly. I programmed ailerons to give me maximum throw without overworking the servos. From what I've seen with the previous planes a lot of aileron shouldn't get me into trouble, especially when I temper it with a little expo. Rudder was set with high and low rates. Low rate was about 5/8" each way and high rate about 1/4" more. The rudder is pretty big so I figured this would be safe. Turns out low rate was just fine and I never used high rate. Elevator was about 1/2" each way on low and about 5/8" each way on high. Again I never used high rate.
The wing was installed when I got to the field, throws and programming checked again, and I started my timer figuring I'd go maybe 7 or 8 minutes depending on how it handled. The flight ended at 22 minutes.
With no lift and keeping it pretty close to me on it's first flight I used the motor more than I'd normally want to, taking it up a few hundred feet and then doing lazy laps around the field. The rudder has a lot of authority, and I can see how the original Bird of Time can work so well without ailerons. With a little more dihedral I think this one might handle life as a 3 channel as well. Aileron input worked well enough, although it's a bit slow in reacting. Flight was very predictable once I did some trimming of the controls and I expect this plane to do well on a good warm sunny day.
A couple problems, however. Orientation was pretty difficult for me because the top & bottom of the wing are the same red/white pattern. I'll add something to the bottom to help it stand out for me. Also, the plane had a strong tendency to climb under power so I figure my motor could be angled down a bit more. I don't know that I can do that easily now that the motor and firewall are mounted so I'll cheat and mix in a little down elevator with the throttle channel. I had this issue with the Red Swan as well. It isn't a huge deal since I want to climb with power and the power should usually be off anyway, but flat powered flight would be nice.
So other than mixing the elevator and throttle I'm not changing the programming and I'm not changing anything on the plane for a while. I think I've got the battery placement for a good CoG, but will determine that better once it warms up and I get some good glide time with it.
So success, and the plane gets hung back up to wait for another chance to fly.