It looks like the Great Planes engine mount weighs about 5 ounces with the mounting hardware. This saves at least 2 oz over the Du-Bro soft mount.

hardlanding - unfortunately the leading edges are not pre shaped. In framing up the wings you glue the ribs to a thin balsa sheet (false leading edge). Once the wings are sheeted, you glue on the end caps (these have a profile of the airfoil) and the leading edge block. Then you shape this sandwich of leading edge blocks to match the end caps. I used a Great Planes power plane to remove most of the excess balsa (worked quite well I might add). Then it’s just a matter of sanding with a long sanding bar. The balsa included with the kit is very nice quality and shapes pretty easily.

In retrospect I was thinking that I should have gotten Saito 150. The Saito 120, 150 and 180 are very similar in weight.

Saito 120 = 820g (28.9 oz) w/muffler
Saito 150 = 890g (31.4 oz) w/muffler
Saito 180 = 880g (31.0 oz) w/muffler

Depending on the balance (e.g. if the plane is a bit tail heavy), the 150 could be a better choice over the 120. I doubt the extra power would be a problem. If you have unlimited cash - a YS-140FZ would probably be a amazing in this plane (very expensive though - almost $600).

By the way, you can sometimes get a discount on Saito Engines from places like Chief Aircraft and Quantum. You just need a bit of luck on the timing of the specials. This month Chief has the Saito 120 on special for $300 shipped (not too bad). I bought mine from Chief last month but I paid a bit more - oh well. Next month you may be able to get the 150 on special - perhaps in the $340 range.

Moses