Richard,

Currently I am house sitting for my son who is selling the house and has moved to West Palm Beach, Fl. So except for my room the whole house is virtually empty. As a matter fact, of the seven major rooms, I am using four to build and store my models(Five completed and two under construction). The opportunity presented itself so I decided to take full advantage of it.

According to UPS I should be receiving my wing sheeting on Thursday. Probably late in the day but what can one do but wait. I am really hoping that the sheeting comes in very light, as I can see my Simla approaching 10 lbs. already. I still have a lot of sanding to do on the wing including the wing tips, leading and trailing edges, etc. I was surprised to discover that the wing tip blocks came out at less than half their original weight just after roughing them out. I also have yet to finish sand the fuse and feathers, so a bit of a diet is in this Simla's future!

I believe the landing gear mount was in the kit as a two piece unit, however I opted for a one piece unit by Carl Goldberg.

What you are doing to your tail feathers will most likely work well. When I built my elevators they came out slightly concave, so I did just what you say you are doing. I spread one entire side of the elevators with filler and then sanded them to shape. They are true and flat now, and only picked up 0.1 oz.

PS- The P-47 should come in at a total of between 22 and 25 lbs. But that is what it should weigh according to the build manual. It is powered by an OSGT-55 gas engine,and has 11 servos, three battery sources, retracts,full cockpit, etc.