I've got 10 flights in on mine so far -

The cowl is fiberglass but very thin. I mounted my .45 sideways with a pitts style muffler then added a layer of glass cloth to the entire inside to reinforce the cowl. I had to cut a lot of the cowl out of one side in order to fit it this way and felt the extra layer of glass cloth would limit the inevitable cracking.

I needed to build a 1 inch extension motor mount box in order to have the thrust washer and spinner clear the cowl.

I mounted both the elevator and rudder in the cutouts near the rear of the fuse. For balancing I used a heavy brass nut underneath the spinner to hold the prop on. Battery is mounted just behind the fuel tank.

I reinforced the wing mounting plate with some 1/4 inch aircraft plywood on both the wing and in the fuse. I then used a brass 1/4 x 20 insert and used a nylon bolt to hold the wing on the fuse.

Used 3 inch wheels due to I fly off grass.

The first flight was a bit hairy as it needed a lot of left aileron and up trim. I may have a warp in the wing? - not noticable to the eye. Now that the airplane is trimmed it flys nice and solid. Knife edges with a bit of pull to the canapy. Inverted with hardly any down pressure. Rolls are nice and straight (axial I think is what they say). Still pulls a bit to the left on uplines even with the right thrust built into the firewall. Stall turns are easy with that big rudder. Slows down without snapping at all. Not unlimited vertical - could use a bit more motor - maybe a .52?

Anyway I have some pics of the assembly (if anyone is interested) and all in all I think this is an excellent airplane for either starting pattern or just boring holes in the sky.

Scott.