Greg,

Thanks for posting here and for all the information that you guys have been giving. Some of the info here has really helped me understand what is truly important in setting up these foam planes. In return, the Refelction has been a great expereince for me so far. I think that Great Planes did a good job engineering these kits. Although some may be favored over others, they are all nice designs. I am impressed with the hinge system, and the fact that the plastic parts are universal to all the series. I know that when things get mass produced, sometimes compromise takes place...all I can say is that if the Reflection flys as well as it does, mass produced, I can only imagine how one of your jig built planes must fly when setup precisely. That is a complement to both Great Planes and you.


I will share a tip for folks that may help them build the kit a little more true...

This deviates from the manual, so take it for it is worth. The plans call for you to glue the top and bottom wing onto the fuse first, then put in the x-braces and lastly put in the interplane struts. I changed that order to what I think is more intuative to get all the alignment right.

First, I glued the bottom wing on, being careful that is was in perfect alignment with the fuse. Next, I glued on both interplane struts. These parts have a very precise fit and can serve to align the wing from top to bottom. Make sure that they are perpendicular to the bottom wing. After this, I made sure that the bottom wing was being held pefectly flat all the way across on a flat surface. I then glued on the top wing to the interplane struts and the top of the fuse. Double check that everything is square and make sure that the wing is fully seated onto the flat surfaces of the interplane struts and the fuse. Next, fit all the carbon x braces per the manual. BEFORE gluing them, turn the plane upside down on a flat surface. Make sure that the wing is held completely flat and that there is no stress on any of the carbon rod junctions. Again, check that everything is true. Glue the rods in place on the wings and make sure every thing is dry before you pick it up off the flat surface. Finally go back an glue any of the joints that you could not get to while the plan was on the table.

I was able to get the wing dead true by using this method. I had my suspicions about what could potentially happen if you strictly followed the manual and Error401 confirmed my theory when he built his by the book. (Error is a good builder IMO...so nobody assumes he is a hack) If you glue the top wing to the fuse first, any slight missalignment either fore, aft, or yaw in relation to the bottom wing, will cause problems for the rest of the steps. In order for everything else to fit together, something is going to end up warped slightly. By not locking in the wing to the top of the fuse first and using the interplane struts to align the upper and lower wings, it be comes pretty simple to get them right. I also think the model becomes easier to handle when building, rather than having two wings glued to the edge of 3mm foam.

OK...that is my $0.02 for the day...I hope that this is helpful for those that are building or have built this kit.