I would like to thank Duane, Jeff , billberry, Richard and everyone else connected with bringing the Simla to the public. Great Job!

Having just returned from my Simla's first flight I thought I would offer a few comments about construction of the kit. Every one has their own favorite construction techniques and the following is what worked for me. With a few exceptions I used only the wood supplied with the kit. My Simla's final weight was 10.05 pounds.

Engine Selection: I went with the OS 120AX , it is a good choice. It has plenty of power - unlimited vertical. There is no replacement for displacement. The OS120 includes a nice muffler extension that allows the muffler to clear the fuse when side mounted. Any .90-.95 2-stroke would work as well and be lighter than the 120. I believe there is a reason many of the older designs side mount the engine. It is to control fuel tank to needle valve position. If the needle valve is too high above the fuel tank's middle the engine will tend to lean out as it drains the tank. I looked at rotating the engine 30 degrees from vertical but thought with my engine the needle valve would be too high. With side mounting the needle valve is centered on the tank. Therefore I went with the side mount. I used the Dave Brown 120FS mount. I did grind of some of the port side to allow the mount and engine to be offset for engine side thrust. Today's flights confirmed the side thrust offset is good. I used a Dubro 16oz tank. and constructed a tank hatch for access on the fuse bottom.

Fuselage Construction: The instructions are pretty easy to follow. It always helps to mark center lines on all formers and the firewall. I like billberry's aluminum angle stock to help align the fuse halves ( post #354). Get an extra 5/16" straight wood dowel at the hardware store and cut several 5" lengths. These dowels will help align the fuse when you are building it.
I used the TNT 1" carbon tube and corresponding phenolic tube It saves half the weight of the aluminum tube. I used wood dowels wrapped with 80 grit sand paper to open up the holes in the fuse and wing ribs to fit the phenolic outer tube nice and snug. Don't forget to size the round balsa rings as well. Save the sheet the rings came in. You can cut balsa crescents from this sheet to extend the area aft of the wing tube to give a larger bearing area for the wing retention bolts.
Ply Lamination: I used Z-poxy Finishing resin to laminate the ply fuse doublers. Lay down some wax paper on a flat surface, then the fuse side mind your right and left! Paint the areas covered by the ply with Z-poxy, paint a light coat on the ply as well, lay the ply on the fuse side and align it. Cover with wax paper then a flat board and add lots of weight. No warps on mine.
Hatches: i went with two hatches. For the Fuel tank hatch I drilled two 1/8" holes through the firewall back into the hatch, pulled the hatch and glued in two 1/8" dowels. At the back of this hatch I glued ply faced balsa block flush with former 2. From the rear drill a 3/16" hole through former 2 into the ply faced balsa block. Remove the front hatch and insert the rear hatch. Drill back through that hole into the front of the rear hatch. Remove rear hatch and glue in 3/16" dowel. The rear dowel locks the front hatch in place. The rear hatch is held in place by two small rare earth magnet from Radio Shack. Simple secure and light weight. To strengthen the balsa fuse sides at the hatches I glued in 1/64' ply. This will keep stiff and crisp edges after the fuse bottom is rounded off. See post #712.
Push rods: I used Sullivan blue nyrods. They are the lightest way to go compared to dowels or arrow shafts etc. I brace them every 6" or so.
Elevator joiner: I used 1/8" music wire with red outer nyrod bearings. I silver soldered 1.5" long 1/16" thick piece of brass for the control horn. I think the control horn should be at 90 degrees to the joiner and not canted forward so it will give equal up and down movement.
Elevator control horn access: Instead of using a bottom hatch, I cut a port on the left side between the fuse trusses, added a truss to complete the triangular opening. I can remove and replace the push rod through this opening. When every thing is set to your liking cover the opening with Monokote. See post #753.
Elevator stiffening: The stock i got to cover the elevators was nice and light but not very stiff. So to stiffen the elevators I laminated 1/64" ply to the inside surface of one of the sheeting per elevator. It didn't add much weight and helped to define the elevator shape.

Wing Construction: I would not recommend putting all the heavy wood in the left wing. I put about 60-70% in the left wing and had to add 4.5g to the right wing tip. So I almost guessed it right.
Wing Tip blocks: I traced the plan view of the wing tips on paper, then used a glue stick to put them on some 1/64" ply. Cut this out with scissors, then remove the paper. I cut the blocks in half with a band saw then glued the ply template between the block halves. This gives you a center line and outline reference when forming the wing tips. Tack glue them to the wings and shape as needed. When almost shaped knock them off and hollow them out with a Dremel tool sanding drum to about 1/4" thickness.
Servo Hatches: I like hidden servos. I use 3/32" aircraft ply ( so it won't flex) for the hatch and side mount the servo to the hatch. My hatches fit between the ribs so are about 2.87" by 3.0". The front overlaps the back of the rear spar by about 3/32". Add a 1/4 or 3/8 sq. balsa stick for the rear of the hatch to rest on and overlap by 3/32". To support the sides of the hatch I doubled each rib side with 3/32 scrap. In each corner of the opening I glued a 90 degree piece of basswood, spruce or ply to screw into for hatch retention. I used 1/4" 1-72 button head screws to hold the hatches. Remember the hatch should sit flush with the sheeting. You can cut out the opening after sheeting.
Servo wire conduit: I use a glue stick and two sheets of typing paper. Glue the sheets together to form a new sheet 8.5" by 21.75". roll this around a 1/2" dowel and overlap once, glue with glue stick. You can stiffen the tube with thin CA. These conduits are held in the wing by gluing to ribs and occasional braces using old paper business cards, nice and light weight.
Landing gear blocks: Pre-notch the main gear block for the vertical leg that fits into the torque block. Be sure to radius the corner to fit the wire. This saves drilling later. You can sheet over the main gear block and cut the opening later.
Shear webs; They are not needed. Nor are extra carbon fiber tubes. After sheeting the wing will be stiff.
Fitting rib#1: Glue in the dihedral braces to rib 2 while on the building board. Use two 5" 5/16 dowels and the wing tube to help align rib 1 and the wing as you trim the spars for proper length. When all is correct you can glue rib 1.
Wing Sheeting: This is what works for me. When building the wing I used steel rods and blocks as a wing jig as per Duane (post #230). If you center the rod top to bottom in the side wood blocks you can flip the whole win-in-jig at once. I sheeted each panel with three pieces. Note the grain pattern on the plans to help you lay things out. I did the rear and front pieces at the same time then added the triangular middle piece later. I trim the sheets for straight edges using an aluminum 48" rule. When sheeting I like to sheet over the sub leading edge, then sand off the excess, then glue on the leading edge. This allows the sheeting to be fully supported and make gluing a breeze. Each rib front is 1/2" so trim the sub LE for straightness to 1/2". After gluing the top spars I glue the sub LE and trailing edge to the ribs before turning the wing over. This will keep the ribs square when inverted to glue the bottom spars. Before you flip the wing sand the sub LE and trailing edge to follow the rib contour for even gluing. Flip the wing and add the bottom spars and sanding gear blocks. Sand everything even. Pencil mark rib centers on the face of subLE and trailing edge.
I use red label Titebond and T pins. First wet the outer surface of the sheet by wiping it with a plain water soaked paper towel. Soak it good and set it aside as prepare to glue. Apply Titebond to all surfaces each sheet piece will touch. Lay the sheet in place and start pinning. It's ok to overlap at front and rear edges , this will be trimmed /sanded later. I usually pin about every 1.5". The rib marks you made on the front and back edges will help you find the ribs to pin to. When dry, twist and pull the pins. Flip and do the other side. Pull pins then sand the sheeting flush with the front and back edges. After installing the wing retention bolt blocks you can add the triangular sheet pieces to finish as per the instructions. The holes left by the pins require no action if you use glass and paint to finish, If using film, fill holes with hobbico wood filler and sand before covering.

Finishing: I love glass and paint, but you have to watch the weight! I usually use Sig finishing resin because you can sand it. I use Klass Kote epoxy paints, great stuff. For my Simla I went with Monokote to see how much this finishing method weighs. Besides everyone else is using glass and paint.
Here are the uncovered and covered weights for the fuse and wings (grams/pounds):
Fuselage 935.5g/ 2.066#, 1029.0g/ 2.268#
Right wing 549.2g/ 1.214#, 625.0g/ 1.376#
Left wing 607.7g/ 1.342# 679.4g/ 1.496#
Total 2092.2g/ 4.622# 2333.4g/5.14#
So the Monokote finish weighed 0.518# So you can compare that to some of the glass and paint Simlas.

Balancing: Lateral balance required 4.5g to the right wing tip.
For a CG at 7.375" behind the root leading edge required 789g at the tail. All up weight was 10.05 pounds. If I had used a lighter engine no tail weight would be needed and I would have come in under 10 pounds.

Other equipment used: 2 wing servos Futaba digital S3050 (6v torque 90). Rudder and elevator: Hitec digital 5625MG (6v torque 130). Throttle servo Hitec analog HS-85MG (6v torque 49), Futaba R617FS receiver, MPI 5cell/6V 2400mAh NiMH battery. Dubro 16oz. fuel tank. Hanger Nine 2.75" p-51 spinner. APC 15x10 prop. Dubro light weight wheels.

Thanks again to all who contributed to bringing the Simla to life. It was a lot of fun to build and great to see flying!
Thom