OK!!! Towers is sending out another roll of covering and said to just keep this one. I've done thousands of dollars worth of business with them and I can only think of two times when an order or product was messed up and they have been great in dealing with them. I cut this roll with my razor saw before opening the package. Only when I then rolled it out did I find it was short. Heck, most of the time I don't unroll a roll except for the amount I need. I wouldn't have known this until I came up short and then would have been scratching my head about how that happened. Needing the full length to start with was the only way I knew.

Meanwhile.... motor mounting. Wow this is tedious work. The long shaft needs to line up with the bearing. The firewall needs to be in the same plane (as in geometry... obviously it needs to be in the same plane/glider ) as the bearing. Then you're working inside an area that has curved side and bottom. Anyway, cross my fingers... I think I have it all right. I just epoxied the blocks into place and they have the T-nuts any everything ready to go. Once dry, I should be able to bolt it up and see if I did it good enough or not.

I also hope I have enough strength in the whole thing. The motor has to be above the cockpit sides by about 1/2", so there was no way to really anchor the uppoer part of the firewall. I have screws in each side and one on the bottom. I suppose the bearing in the nose will play a big part in torsional stress on the firewall. It certainly is not going to rip out forward. I think it is 'good enough'. This motor is huge. It seems like I checked it once and got 1700 watts on a 17x10 prop. Lets see, if it will in fact do that... I'll have close to 200 watts per pound! That should do it. [8D] Or, I might have a noseless model. [X(]

So, this is all good. If this plan works, I have knocked out one of the really hard parts and tomorrow, when the epoxy is dry, I'll know for sure. I should get my other prop adapter Friday or Saturday. I can then cut the motor shaft to length, put in the set screw notches and bolt it all together. Heck, I might even have to fire it up! And, if in fact it is successful, I'll get some shots of this whole business.

I am a bit anxious about the folder and the nose. The main part of the nose is walnut. The upper part is balsa. I'm yet again thinking that I might give it a coating of thin CA to harden the balsa before covering. Maybe that will help with the bit of prop damage inherent in these folders. OH... the Aeronaut prop is gorgeous! I have a number of these but none this big. I think I have a 12" in my Cularis. 17" is beastly looking in comparison!