rcfury, sorry to hear about your misfortune. Here's what I did to break in my motor. I cut a piece (about 12" x 12") of 3/4" plywood and used it as a base. I then made a cutout for the Saito. I made a tray that allowed the servo and rx to sit. I then used some velcro strips, screwed to the wood, to secure the fuel tank. Then I screwed it down to my Black and Decker work horse. I also made a mount for my tachometer. That way it was completely hands free. Once I mounted it, I used some padded steel saftey sticks that I stuck in the ground about 12". Then I just let the planes leading edge butt up against the sticks. The Saito 120 was pulling so strong that I had to scrounge around mor 2 additional sticks. I have always felt that the tail straps allow too much pressure on the tail assembly. Especially with the manner in which our h-stab is mounted. It is secured mainly from the epoxy on the bottome of the h-stab. The tail straps may be suitable for a plane that has a slide in h-stab, but I don't think it is wise to use this method on our planes. Just my opinion.

After talking with my buddy (the other club president), I have decided on a method to add struts/flying wires to my landing gear. I am going to use some of the wire from my Dubro pull pull kit. I'm going to drill 2 small holes in each leg of the landing gear. I will then use one wire and thread it through all four holes so that they criss-cross in the middle and then use one of the provided crimps and crimp the wire ends together once I achieve the proper tension. I think this will be more than sufficient to hold the landing gear together. With the use of these wires, the weight will be next to nothing.