Stopped by the LHS during lunch. Everyone's favorite brown truck was unloading, and guess what was standing by the door???

I took a quick look to ensure there was no damage, and snarfed it up.

This airplane has a few unusual features. The elevators are driven by an internal/external bellcrank mounted just ahead of the horizontal stab. The servo is in the "normal" location, driving a push-pull (NOT pull-pull) set-up back to the bellcrank.

The rudder servo is mounted on the fuse side, ABOVE the horizontal stab. That looks a bit bizarre, but should work with no drama.

The tank is mounted 'way back in the fuse, above the wing LE. I fervently hope my 70 Surpass will draw from it without assistance; if I had noticed this at first, I would have held off taking the kit. The construction photos show both a YS 63 and 70 Surpass. Of course, the YS won't be bothered by this.

The finish is superb. One piece wing, already joined, and the dowels are even installed. Two piece gear legs, nicely done. The glass on the cowl is a bit thin, but acceptable. Ditto the wheel pants. The firewall is un-drilled, allowing you to put your engine exactly where you want it. All mounts/hardware are supplied.

Overall, a rather impressive offering. Yeah, they are proud of it, but you get plenty for your dough. This model appears to have some stamina, as it were. The UCD is downright delicate, it is built so light. The parts of this Matrix have a "solid" feel to them, if you know what I mean. I am NOT saying it is heavy or overbuilt. But I don't think you can drop this fuselage six inches onto a stool and punch a hole right through both sides; like I did with my UCD.

Anyway, I'm excited. The only mods I plan on so far is an on-board glow system. I've never had much luck with running four strokes inverted, except with on-board glow heat. The fuse is rather narrow, so getting everything in there will require a bit of thought and planning.

I wanted something different; this looks like it.

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