Take an old belt or piece of rope and loop it around the tail. Drive a stake or tire iron in the ground for an anchor to hold the plane in place. Shouldn't hurt anything. You said ground was soft from rain, should be easy enough to get stake in ground. Will motor not idle down because too tight or because mixture is wrong? Has it EVER idled? Like before the prop came off did it have these problems? Try to go back to the last KNOWN good condition. Had an Evolution motor the other day with a missing washer behind prop drive washer, felt OK until prop tightened down. Then could not turn it. Somewhere along the way a washer had come up missing. This MIGHT be your problem. Anyone out there more familiar with Thunder Tiger engines please chime in here. Sarges- is there a manual for your motor? If so does it show a part list or diagram? Look for a washer that may be missing. Don't give up. Hope you didn't run engine too lean and do damage to cylinder walls. That is anther slim possibility. Wish I could be there to look at it first hand.[&o]

Bruc