I've just hit a snag in th e build process.

I didn't move my firewall back. I just glued it in the stock location. The problem is that the Ryobi is quite a long engine when it's completely assembled. The back of the prop is about 2" in front of the cheeks on the sides of the fuse.

I don't like the way it looks. I think it would look better if the back of the prop was only about 1/2"--3/4" in front of the cheeks.

Another concern is the moment arm of having that much weight sticking out so far. I am planning on installing 3 servos in the tail anyway. 2 elevator servos and 1 rudder servo. The conmbined weight of those 3 servos is about 5oz. That will counter-balance 15oz. in the nose. Give or take a little.

I am mounting the Ryobi 1/8" off center to the left. I'm anticipating needing some right thrust. I'll have to fly it and then make right thrust adjustments with some thin washers behind the left side of the mount.

The wing is almost finished. I have to install some servo mounts in each panel, and then glue the panels together. I usually prefer to cover my wings first, and then join the 2 panels. But, this wing requires some fiberglass on the center joint. I'm not going to use the 2" fiberglass cloth that came with the kit. I've gone to the auto parts store and bought some 4oz cloth. I am going to glue the 4oz cloth just slightly more than 4" wide on the center joint. The fuselage is 4" wide at the wing saddle, and I want just a little bit of fiberglass on the wings where they rest in the wing saddle. So, if I glue the 4oz cloth on about 4.25" wide, it will be just a little wider than the fuse. I want the glass to ride on the saddle, instead of just the balsa sheeting on the wings.

I've sheeted my wings out 1 more bay than called for in the plans. The first 4 ribs on each panel are undersized, so that when you glue the sheeting on, it will be flush with the surface of the rest of the wing. All I did was cut my sheets long enough to go all the way out to the first full sized rib and I just butt glued the sheeting to the side of it. I have 11.25" of sheeting on each panel at the root.