I was able to get some building time in this past weekend so here are some pics of the progress
Engine Mounting and Front Air Venting
I made attachment points out of FR4 circuit board material, next I installed the motor onto the mount, I placed two washers between the mount and the motor to get the spacing I wanted between the nose of the airplane and the spinner backplate. This eliminates the need to cut a spacer to go between the spinner and the nose of the fuselage. Next it was just a matter of sliding the mount in place and using a couple dabs of thick CA to connect the ears to the fuse.
Once the CA has dried you can gently remove the motor and final glue the ears. ( I used Hysol )
For the air vents I just followed the outline of the cheeks and cut a couple of openings below the engine.
Main Landing Gear
Okay, this is normally the easy part but in my case it took almost a full day to complete this task.
I noticed when I first looked inside the fuse that the battery tray and rudder servo tray were already installed, I also noticed that the landing gear plate was drilled and blind nuts were already installed so I didn't think much of it until I took the gear legs out of the package to bolt them up and found that they were not drilled yet.
I am sure there is an easy way to make the holes I need to drill match up with the holes they have already drilled but I guess I missed that lesson along the way.
Long story short, I took 64th ply made a template that matched up to the pre drilled holes, placed it over the holes and then tack glued my template to the landing gear block. Next I slid the gear in place lined up the axle and tack glued the landing gear to my template. Once that is done you can pop the template away from the landing gear plate and it will be stuck to the landing gear. Then it is just a matter of marking the holes and drilling them. Like I said earlier, there is probably an easier way but this worked for me.
I am waiting on a response from Henry asking if the gear are normally pre drilled also. This could have been an oversight on the model I received. I will let you know once I hear back.
I hope to get started setting up the wings and stabs tonight.
Russell