Personally, if your friend is not going to fly his cub until next year, I would wait until then to break in the engine. Otherwise he's going to have a nice "oily" cub hanging from his kitchen. He would also have a fueltank with oil build-up over the winter months. I would put a good 24 hr initial charge on his new radio, leave the engine alone and let him hang it up until he is ready for it's maiden flight.

One final thought: If the cub was only going to get a maiden flight before hanging in the kitchen over the winter months, it's much easier to hang up a newly built plane rather than a cub that's in a million pieces in case the maiden flight goes haywire!

If nothing else have him give me a call. I will personally fly to his hometown and fly it for him when the time is ripe!

Just wanted to give my opinion.