G'day

According to the plan - front wheel - 3 1/4 inch and rear pair - 3 3/4 inch. Tank looks to be about 8 oz but 10 would be OK too. I generally use Dubro tanks as they are shallow and they fit the Kadet well. The plan does not give detailed instructions on mounting the tank so I usually make a platform for the tank to sit on with a couple of 1/4 x 1/4 supports along the sides and a sheet of 1/8 for the tank to sit on (grain across). You will need some foam to pack around the tank too and some fuel tubing. I use pink or red for the muffler pressure and blue for the fuel line so they don't get mixed up.

I usually put my battery under the fuel tank wrapped in foam. This helps with the CG.

When you start construction, you will need a few tools - in particular sharp modeling knives and a razor saw to cut all those sticks accurately. Also, some sanding blocks are very important and a razor plane makes shaping the nose and the leading edge (which should be quite blunt).

I have used Zap green (medium I think) on my wing so far but later I will go over the more important joins with aliphatic resin. You will need some 30 minute epoxy for the firewall area and the wing joiners.

To protect the wing when you are transporting it, head off to your local K Mart or similar and buy a cheap sleeping bag. They only cost about $20 here and they make excellent wing bags.

A very important thing that I used to ignore is to fuel proof inside the front of the model. These days I use modeling dope plus a coat of spray clear lacquer or similar. Topflight makes some good spray lacquer which dries really fast and is fuel proof. I usually coat the engine bay with epoxy or paint it with oil based enamel paint. All my Kadets have the bottom of the engine bay left open so that any oil or gunk can leak away easily and so I can get at the nuts and bolts to mount the engine. It also makes cleaning easier.

You will almost certainly need to add lead to the front to get it to balance with a two stroke. My ARF had a Saito 65 (which is one of Saito's older designs and is very heavy) and it did not need any additional weight. The Laser engine too is quite heavy and did not need extra but all the others have needed some weight added. I cut sheets of lead and glue them inside the cowl cheeks to get things basically right and then add small amounts to the engine mount to do any fine trimming if needed.

I am sure you will like your Kadet and you will get a great deal of satisfaction from building it. You will also experience a certain amount of frustration too. Be careful to note the type of timber before you cut things. The kit uses a mixture of spruce and balsa. If you look carefully at the plan, you will see that the two wood types are drawn differently. Laying out all the parts into groups will help you to not mix up the different materials but you do need some space to do this.

Cheers - and enjoy your Kadet Senior. I love mine.

Mike in Oz