My first balsa build in 30 years

[TooJung2Die]

You don't need the antenna outside of the fuselage unless the fuselage skin is made from material that acts as a RF shield like carbon fiber.

 

[kkelly]

The receiver is installed and the two built-in antennas routed at 90 degrees to each other. It'll be ready to fly as soon as the replacement arrives for the remote receiver cable I damaged (oops). I'll try to get video of it in flight, which may take a while since it's oppressively hot here right now and I don't relish the thought of standing in direct sunlight at the flying field. Thank you again for all the advice.

I already have a hankering to start another balsa build. I'm thinking a motor glider, possibly from scratch.

 

[kkelly]

It flew! We finally got weather conductive to flying on a day when I had free time after weeks of waiting. It was clearly a little tail-heavy on the first flight. I added some weight inside the nose and, after a take off that resulted in an immediate unintended landing (thanks screwy winds in the foothills!), it had a good second flight. I was the only one there, so unfortunately no video. It still needs some trimming and possibly the CG moved a touch further forward, but overall it flew well. It cruises around 60% throttle even with the additional weight.

 

[Gingertimelord]

Welcome back to our happy obsession. I can identify with everything you shared. I had a 40 year gap between balsa builds. The level of anxiety for the maiden flight of a balsa airplane you spent weeks building is on a whole 'nother level than a FT foamie you built in a couple of days. Foam is fun but balsa flies better!
Jon

My return to balsa started with buying 5 old balsa and tissue planes to repair and get flying again
First back in action once I have the specs I need to modify it as little as possible, a peanut scale PT1 trusty biplane that I'm thinking the FT EZ will be a good fit without chopping to add control surfaces

Welcome back man!