Steve, What I do to break in an engine is install an onboard glow and run 20% nitro. The 20% nitro gives me the broadest idle range possible (the higher the nitro the broader the idle range), while the on board glow is insurance. I try to not touch the engine for the first fifty flights, because at fifty it will be well broken in and I only need to mess with it once. Of coarse as I am running those fifty flights the engine will get richer and richer and need one or two tweaks along the way. But the important thing is I don't have to stay on top of it, and can weight until I'm positive it is rich then make an adjustment.

At fifty flights I put the final tune on the engine. Once happy with that I remove the onboard glow (usually requires increasing the idle trim). Once happy with that I count the clicks, or turns on each needle valve and record it (in the planes log and written right on the engine box).

When installing the onboard glow battery I usually use those plastic tie raps to mount it to the engine mount. That puts all the weight up front for those first flights, so when it is removed it moves the CG aft.

The strut hard points in the wing are hard wood glued to the balsa ribs and they break out very easily. Well I should rephrase that, they do not come out from normal wear. But when the EZ hinge for the struts break near the fuse the strut can drop well below the wheel. That leads to a wing low landing and if the strut hits the ground while you are still moving it will most likely pull out one or both of those wing hard points.

I like to do my own version of the flying farmer routine with it, so I've loosened up just about all of the glue joints at one time or another so if something does not look or feel right give me a holler.

Good luck

Joe Felice