Flew the 51 last evening. The Saito .82 4S is plenty of power and pulls this plane straight up. Gear reatract function just adds to the fun. I do have one big problem though and it will need to be repaired this winter, ending the flying season for this bird. The joint where the fuse meets the wing developed a crack. I think this is mainly due to the vibration that the Saito creates, it is a bunch. Spinner, prop ballanced and rechecked. My fix will be to add 1/4" ply to both sides of the fuse back to the rear edge of the wing. That should stiffin things up considerably.

I am also considering moving the motor back an inch to help with ballance. I did have to add a touch of weight to the tail. With the extra ply on the nose I will need to add more tail weight. Looks like about an inch would do it.

The last modification I plan is to add a tube on the bottom of the fuse to carry the crackcase drain and exhaust. The Saito creates a bunch of mess along with all that power.

I plan on fireing the engineer on this project as soon as I complete these mods! He gets fired a lot.