Just thought I'd weigh in with some high-altitude thoughts on the UCD 46. I fly at 5000 feet and am on my second engine in this plane in an attempt to get the vaunted unlimited vertical. The Magnum 61 on a 13 x 4W would not do it, though with a mousse can muffler it came close to hovering. Now I'm running an MVVS 77 with a mousse can setup on a 14 X 4W, bingo! I'm still trying to get used to how it flies on high rates, and get the CG dialled for blowing the tail around. I'm a rookie, flying since October, so that doesn't help either

I haven't been real happy with the landing gear setup. It was broken off twice before my current repair, where I added all kinds of wood, gussets, etc around a heavy oak gear block. Probably didn't help the weight any, but I stuffed the bird under a boat trailer and squished one side of the gear flat... and the mounting block was still fine! Can't say the same about the spinner, prop, engine mount, and wingtip though.

All in all I couldn't be happier with the plane, I think Great Planes is smoking crack for saying it's an 8 hour assembly job, mine was more like 20. But then we're back to that rookie thing. The flying characteristics are awesome and I always land with a smile. (except when the magnum would flame out in a spin, but that's another story)

slag.