Dave,

great to see you at it and thanks for showing us your build.

One issue I ran into when framing up the fuse was the cowl side doublers (CSD). I found it a bit tricky to pull the nose together on to F1B, the nose ring backplate, with the doublers already bonded to the sides. If they aren't already glued and for other builders, I'd suggest bringing the sides together on to F1B and adding the doublers afterward. A little hot water on the outsides of the doublers will help them curve to the inner contour of the sides. After they're in place, the tristock can be added to the cowl area. I see that you have the cowl top tristock in place already and that will make closing up the cowl tricky as well. You can just sand it off if it's giving you trouble and then add it back in once the sides are pulled together.

Depending on the engine/motor installation, the cowl can be built up in a number of ways so I won't elaborate further on it. However, with a 2-stroke, it is generally either upright or side mounted depending on where one wants the muffler/pipe to run. Fuel draw shouldn't be an issue with either type of mount pattern.

Although I changed the radio tray to 1/8" lite ply in the production run kits, the plans show it as being 1/16" ply. The lite ply was just more practical and weighs the same. The extra thickness will have to be taken into account when installing the tray in the model so that the elevator servo base is flush with the fuse top (paper thickness offset) and the pushrod sleeves align with the holes in F4. My proto kit uses the 1/16" tray and when I tried to use the 1/8" on the same tray rails, it put the servo output to high up for proper pushrod alignment. I went back to the 1/16" and just backed the servo mount point with some 1/8" ply for the servo screws. You might want to do this regardless with the lite ply try for a little added servo screw retention. Note that this is required regardless for the rudder servo which must be offset from the elevator servo so the P-P cables clear the pushrods.

I'd suggest using Sullivan CF pushrods for the elevators but plastic sheath pushrods are fine too.

Looking good!

David