Reviving this old thread to share my experiences with the solutions explained above. I had the same problem this week when I went to install battery and there was NO room to fit it like they did in the build video. This is only my 3rd FT build, so I’m still getting comfortable with deviating from plans.
These couple of “mods” made perfect sense though and seem to be the only way to make it flyable anyway.
I was pretty tail heavy after the build, so I needed my battery as far forward as possible. The only way to fit the 3s 850mah batt in the nose was to shorten the power pod and relocated the esc.
Also wanted to make the Cowling removable, so used Velcro to hold it in place, and was able to avoid having skewers coming out of the cowling by doing it this way.
Flew the maiden yesterday, and while it still felt a touch tail heavy, there’s not much I could do about it without adding a little lead in the nose. It’s pretty heavy already for its size, so I’m opting against that, and just gave it some down elevator trim to keep it tame. Not quite as easy to fly as the Mini Mustang, but still goes exactly where you tell it to and with the F pack it has ridiculous thrust and authority.
On the hand launch, I hardly even threw it. At 75% throttle it was begging to leave my hand. Shot straight out and climbed away with ease. A little left aileron trim and down elevator trim and we were good to go.
All that’s left now are decals!
Thank you to you guys above for the solutions that gave me some direction and got me in the air. Much appreciated!!