Thanks much for the reply Maximus.

I just got the plane yesterday. The fuselage had a lot more wrinkles on the covering than my H9 1/4 CAPs, but not too bad overall. This thing is built solid, though. A bit on the heavy side, so I can see why folks prefer the GP version. Those wheels are hideously huge, and HEAVY (over 1 lbs for the 2). But, heck, at that closeout price, I can overlook a few flaws.

I have other weedies but the PT-19's long narrow cowl cries out for the Ryobi. I bought a CH Ignition kit for it, so I shouldn't have the cowl clearance problem. I shaved off as much metal as I can off the engine case and fins to save weight. I've also upgraded to a Frank Bowman piston ring, which made a world of difference. It was swinging a MA 18x8 at 8000rpm back in winter when it was nice and cool around here. I was going to up the CR and enlarge the ports, but for this bird I don't think I need to.

Sounds like good advice to cut off the firewall 1". I will measure good and try to cut off just enough for the cowl to fit right and for the plane to balance right. I'm going to try hard to keep the weight down, so lead weight is a definite no-no.

Paul sounds like a mighty fine friend to have. His job has my envy as well.

You might want to post pictures of the pilot figures. I was going to let Brigitte and Eva fly this one (as per MAN's review) but a couple of scarf flying stiffnecks might not look bad either.