More on the 1/5 Super Chipmunk.

I bought the N13Y retract version from Apache. When I opened the box, I was most impressed with the quality of the kit. Most if not all of the included accessories were of the quality you go out and buy when you have thrown out standard inclusions in a kit.
The wood is CNC routed as opposed to die cut or laser cut.

After much deliberation, I bought the G38 for the kit, but on a second thought, I have decided to set it aside for my next project which will be a 1/3 Sig Spacewalker and go for a Moki 1.8 instead for the Chipmunk. Reasons were that I have problems with fitting the G38 with a Bisson Pitts muffler without shortening the nose structre. I also wanted the lighter weight of the Moki.

I have done all basic framing of the wings and tailgroup. Parts have been excellent fit and the plane seems to be coming out strong but relatively light. The design of the wing is impressive with a plywood cradle that extends the full length of the wing and interlocks with the spars and ribs. The retract bay is a frame of plywood which also interlocks into the structures. Only thing I would have liked to see different is the wing, but it is a single part, which makes transport harder.

Everything has alignment tabs on it to guarantee straight build. The wing has the scale airfoil, blending from semi-symmetrical at the root into a washout type airfoil at the tip. The ailerons are built as a part of the wing, but cut away once the wing is sheeted and capped with a leading edge strip.

Fuselage is stadoff scale with flat sides, but you can round the lower corners quite a bit for better looks. I also think it would be relatively easy to modify the fuse sides for a more scale outline.

The cowl is one of the best quality fibreglass ones you see. Because of the retracts, there are no spats, but the kit includes scale fairings for the retracted wheels. A wing fairing is also included, but it's made of ABS and is somewhat thin. I might make up a new fairing from balsa and 1/32" ply and replace the included ABS one.

Everything except tank, engine and covering is included, even the wheels.

I am attaching a couple of photos of the basic frame-up.

Regards

Ari