Hey Robert,

The Excellence that I was referring to was the Excellence IAM, the same that Quique flew in the first AA contest and the IAM. I am not sure if it is also called the Excellece Z, because I know that he had input in both airplanes. I have seen him practice with it many times and it is a great flyer. If I were you, and if you didn't already have that YS to go in your plane, I would go with the Webra 1.45 Aero-X. I have a Webra in my Hydeout, and the performance is awesome. If I am correct, it puts out very close to or more than 4 hp., and when coupled with a 9-10 pound pattern plane, provides for some interesting performance. It also is very well behaved and I have not had any problems with it on downlines and the like. I have heard that two-strokes are bad about that, but it hasn't missed a beat. I have an Asano pipe and header with mine, and it is very quiet. It is also the cheapest and lightest dedicated pattern engine, weighing in at only 28 ounces. WHEW!

Getting back on track (sorry about going off on that tangent, just throwing out ideas), I haven't heard any more about the Partner than you probably have. I have just seen the page with the pics of the fuse on the PL website. I will talk to Quique, and when and if he gets one (which he likely will) I will be glad to share my experiences about the plane with you.

As an afterthought, if anyone would be interesed, Quique is designing an "AA" plane. I can't remember what it is called, but it is a highly modified version of his earlier design that was kitteed by Aeroworks for a while called the Freedom 3D. It is going to be made by MK, and it looks very similar to a skinny fused Excellence. I think Quique said that the optimal engine would be a 1.20 4-stroke or a .91+ 2-stroke. One of the people that knows him that lives around here is building one, so I'll try and get more information on that as well.

Boy, my fingers are hurting now.