Yes, I think that was his name. I spent a lot of time in that area, sometimes many weeks at a time. A bunch of us flew from our company parking lot over in Centerville that was a few miles from the Dayton Mall. W-K Hobbies was our supply depot. Bill was an upbeat, energetic guy and was always working on something new to sell.

It’s been a long time ago but as I recall the firewall in my Great Planes kit was pre-cut to size. I made a nose ring to space the back of the spinner out from the nose of the fuselage 1/16”. I ruff cut out the side of the fuse for the engine and then placed the engine in the fuselage, installed the spinner and prop and taped the spinner to the front of the fuselage. I used a Sullivan flex mount and I think I temporary installed the rubber insulators backwards so I had a flat surface on the back of the mount to determine the firewall position. I remember sanding the sides of the firewall so it would fit without distorting the glass fuselage sides. I don’t recall how I figured out where to drill the holes for the flex mount rubber insulators and blind nuts but it must have been fun!

I would normally never say this about an RC aircraft but with the Tiporare be careful not to build it too light. It has 720 sq in of wing area, is supper fast and needs a little weight to be stable. Mine came out at 7.78 lbs and feels very light in the air! That’s only a wing loading of 24.9 oz per square foot. With the piped OS 61 pumper it is ballistic.

PS. After looking at my plans I see that the firewall was pre-cut for an OS 61 installation which was the Tiporare power plant of the day.