Thanks Al. It came out better than I could've hoped.

OK... another short installment...

I temp mounted the RCBlimpXLPro TW... a sweet unit, and VERY light... 56 grams, or less than 2 ozs.

I also got the landing gear temp mounted... easier to work on things this way. I don't know if I'm going ot use some small pieces of the alum angle iron or not... haven't decided yet. I drilled all holes so they are a bolt in addition if I decide to go with them. I did put some hardwood squarestock on the inside of the motorbox sides to strengthen the gear plate.. T-88 epoxy should keep it together. This also elevates the angle iron so the side screws will have more motorbox meat to bite into should I go with the angle iron... what can I say... I'm a perfectionist.

I also cut the motorbox back to the correct length. I debated a lot about what to do here... on my JTEC Extra I mounted the firewall at an angle... it was kind of a pain. I also thickened the firewall a little since it was slightly flimsey. On this one I decided to give an SWB motor mount a try... it has 2.5 degrees right thrust neatly built in. I cut back the motorbox to fit the engine with the SWB mount, then weighed both the wood I cut off and the mount... the mount weighed 32 grams, the wood weighed 29 grams... I gained only 3 grams, minus sawdust!!! Plus, since the mount will be against the firewall I don't think I'll reinforce it... it should be fine. On the Extra I couldn't mount the motor flush against the firewall... I had to put washers behind it so the stock muffler wouldn't hit the firewall... lost the strength from the motor backplate.

I cut out the balsa behind the hatch... it was backed with a ply arch anyway. Saved a tiny amount of weight, but more importantly lets me work in the arse end.

I got my Pete's Models CF 5" Extra Style spinner in today... 3.8 ozs... lighter than advertised! Very cool!

Here are some pics... the vert stab is just sitting there. As you can see from the empty mat, my daughter went to bed before i did. She likes to hang out in the basement with me.

I'm out of town for work again this weekend... she'll be a slow thread. I just hope the plane's ready for the IMAC season!!!