Hi Paul / Russ

Many thanks for your comments,all noted and very much appreciated...............Maiden is coming up very soon now,just got to wait for the weather here in the UK to get a bit better in the way of seeing some sushine and puffy white clouds !!!

I have finished the Staggerwing now................flying weight is a hefty 21lbs,I needed to add 13oz of lead to the nose ( nice,neat little square of it all wrapped up in black insulation tape and mounted with a hole through it and tapped a tread into the firewall and used a M3 bolt plus double sided foam mounting tape ),this fitted very nicely behind and between the Saito engine mounting.

Charles at CFC supplied me with the "N" numbers and I have to say his work is FIRST CLASS,they finish off the Staggerwing a treat !!!

I balanced the Staggerwing at 5 1/2" as per what people have done according to the threads,used my Great Planes balancer ( bowed a bit under the weight !!! ),but found this device to be very easy to use and accurate in setting up the distance from the leading edge.

Paul............you may be pleased to hear ( so far ),that the Saito 200 R3 started very easily and is very,very smooth...............and no on board glow used !!!I have decided to change the prop to 17 x 6 and try that,although I will be doing more ground runs ( with the cowl off..........to aid cooling ),before she takes to the air.I would like to get at least two tanks through her first.

couple more questions for you and Russ ;.........are you flying with the advised throws,elevator throw appears as advised not alot !!! The ailerons,have you used EXPO on these as they appear to be quite "sharpe"..........I have set at the moment about 40%,but I will not use rates as I prefer to just have max travel set all the time.

Russ............your Staggerwing looks great in the air,many thanks for showing the photo's of her........

I will post some pics of the Staggerwing as finished and try to get some "vid" of the DOWN and LOCKED gear posted for you to see.........

Many thanks again for your advise..........will keep you updated !!

PS : Russ,was that a complete kit you heard was for sale ...?


Cheers..........Nick (UK)