August 14, 2007
After what seemed like forever (it was really only a little over  2 weeks but patience is not one of my better virtues) my T-45 Hawk finally arrived from EJF today (which means I didn’t get anything done on the “ scratch ” project I started while waiting. I was too eager to see how this one works and get it ready to fly the coming weekend.) Other than it being a “foamy” it appears to be a really a well thought out ARF. All the foam parts fit together nice and snug with plastic alignment pieces that lock them in. I really liked the magnetic latches on the canopy too.  For the price not a bad deal since it comes with everything you need to make it fly, except the radio.
Although sold as a “receiver ready” PNP kit there is a bit of assembly to be done. You do have to attach the elevators and vertical fin as well as installing the nose gear and perform basic pre flight set up. I started on mine around 7:00 PM tonight and had it fully radioed up and basically ready to fly by 8:30. The instruction manual is a bit sparse, but it’s still an easy assembly. I’m not sure of what to do with the glue that came with it. I took one whiff that my nose said was aliphatic and set it aside in favor of the URCFG form Yardbird RC. (Gotta love that stuff when you’re working with foam.)

Likes ‘n’ dislikes
I’m hoping that with it’s light weight and 37” wingspan that this one will slow down for a soft landing. Otherwise, it may quickly be converted to hand (or bungee) launch and belly landings. The front gear looks and feels just a little on the “wimpy” side. Installing the nose cone it the only thing I didn’t get accomplished tonight and left it off to make sure the glue repair on it holds. (The plastic bracket that holds it had separated from the foam at the bottom) The mains are a bit sturdier and would probably be stronger than the wing that supports them.
I’m debating with myself over whether to “ugly up” the wing and cut a trough in it for a carbon fiber wing spar. It feels like it might be a little on the flexy side for high speeds. Chances are I’ll leave it alone for at least the 1st flight. The throttle does have settings other than wide open.
Though it didn’t get it done tonight, I will add silicone (fuel line) tube keepers to all the clevis before flying. I didn’t really like the design on the elevator’s pushrod to servo connector either. Looks a little bit weak to me, but far too intricate to re-engineer without a lot of hassle. As it comes “out of the box” the aileron throw looks more like it should be on a 3D aerobat than a jet. I turned them down a bit through the radio to about half of what was there for high rate and another 25% lower for low rate. (approx 3/4" up/down on high rate, 1/2" on low)
I’ve read through the construction manual 3 times and can’t find a recommended center of gravity or recommended control throws for the model.

Things I did like were the quick and easy assembly. About 1-2 hours from opening the box to being flight ready. Both the wing and vertical fin are easily detachable for transport, storage, or access to the areas underneath. The canopy pops off and on easily with magnetic latches. The vertical fin and stabilizer though made of foam are denser and have a hard plastic like coating on them which makes them very strong and rigid. I wish the fuselage and wing had the same treatment since it would make them stiffer and more resistant to hanger rash.

8/15/07
I had planned on taking the Hawk out front for some photos and taxi testing this evening but nasty weather prevented that. I did however do a test run on the battery pack/motor and it looks as if flight times will be in the 5 to 6 minute range. A run of 5 minutes with throttle settings varying from half to full dropped the battery from a full charge down to about 3.6v per cell and made it only slightly warm. I haven’t even looked at the included charger since I already have a good balancing charger. Though it might make a difference in the air so the motor can unload, with the model held stationary I could tell no difference in throttle settings of 3/4 and full. With that done went back to my “scratch” project for now.

8/16/07
I reworked the elevator connector after all. I tried moving it to a different hole in the servo arm to get a little more travel out of it and the little pin that goes through the servo arm broke. I used a metal clevis, opened up the threaded end of it enough to slip the two elevator push rods into it and silver soldered the assembly together. ( see photos ). Try as I might, I couldn't get more than 3/8" of elevator movement out of it. I also visited the Icon RC website and found the suggested CG location there. They show it at 15CM (150 mm) back from the top leading edge of the intake duct. I still haven’t been able to take the model out for taxi testing due to weather but did run a better timed battery test. 3 minutes of full throttle, 2 minutes of half throttle and another minute of full throttle followed by a minute of quarter throttle dropped the pack to 3.6v per cell and only lukewarm. I set the countdown timer on my DX7 for 5 minute flights to play it safe. Getting the model to balance at the recommended CG took 2 oz. of lead in the nose and mine came out at 26 oz RTF with battery pack installed. That puts it about 4 oz heavier than the advertised weight. Still pretty light tho when compared to my HET F-20 at 22 oz without the battery pack. (32 oz RTF)

August 18, 2007
Test day, Flight 1: I went to my home RC club in hopes that maybe the grass might be cut short enough to take off, but it didn’t happen. Though the runway was well groomed the little Hawk just couldn’t generate enough thrust to overcome it. I gave up on that idea after about 10 seconds and drove to a neighboring club’s site that has pavement.
Since there was nobody there I had the place all to myself but that meant no video. I still wanted to fly it so installed the battery pack and went out. I used about a 100 foot run of the pavement before pulling elevator and it did a nice scale climb out. It took a couple of clicks up elevator and only one click of right aileron trim to get it flying true. (Guess I got lucky setting this one up) I ran a few circles around the field getting the feel of it and it actually flies pretty good. I wouldn’t classify it as impressive since top speed “flat and level” is probably only in the 40-50 mph range. (No need to worry about adding that carbon fiber wing spar) But, it is a good flying model for someone that wants an easy to fly EDF. I took it up high enough to be safe and started reducing power while pulling up elevator until it stalled. Nothing scary, it just mush’s along until it falls forward back into a level attitude. After about 3 minutes I set up for the landing and floated it in for a greaser. Not a soul in sight to see it or shoot video. This sucked!

Flight 2: I put the battery on the charger while hoping someone else would show up out there. That didn’t happen so loaded up and went back to my home club to draft someone to work the camera or the plane one. Once back with camera man in tow I put the Hawk into the air again and flew for almost 5 minutes this time. Did a few rolls, some inverted flight (with it's lifting wing, it takes a LOT of down elevator to hold it when upside down). The 1st loop I tried was comical to say the least. It just didn’t have enough power to make it over the top and did what looked like a back flip at the top before falling back into flat and level flight. My camera man was talking about having trouble keeping up with it so came around for another landing. My depth perception was just a little off and I set it down in the grass alongside the runway instantly giving it “retracts”. Guess the mains were not as strong as I’d thought since it popped both sides out of the wing. The nose gear folded as well. No other damage though. Driving back to our club I asked if he’d gotten the 1st loop attempt and he told me he didn’t get much of the flight at all. (He wasn’t kidding either, there was far more footage of grass and open sky than of model in flight. Totally unusable since there was no more than 2 consecutive seconds with the plane in it).

Flight 3: In the 30 minutes we were gone quite a few more people had shown up at my home club so put the battery back on the charger and found another volunteer for camera duty. (Thank you David, you did good!)
After the pack charged, I also managed to draft Jim Holloman for the duties of a hand launch. (Thank you too, Jim.) As for this flight, I see no need to tell you what you can see for yourself. I notice a slight increase in top speed with the landing gear removed, and it doesn't slow down quite as fast when power is reduced either.

I did epoxy the plastic main gear mounts back into the wing once home but probably won’t plug the gear back in since our field is grass and it hand launches easily once trimmed out anyways. I plan to replace the stock battery connector with a Dean's type connector as well. Other than that, I'm going to fly it.