Hi John,

I've got an O.S. 46FX that I bought 10 or so years ago and never used that will go in it ( Moved from San Diego to the Monterey area back then and haven't flown since then ). I was going to use my trusty old 46SF, but upon pulling it apart recently I found a bit of rust in the rear bearing, so am ordering some Boca high performance bearings for it. I moved the carb from the SF to the XF though, I'm not a fan of the remote needle set up. Also a member of the skinned knuckle club .

I got some small diameter carbon arrow shafts from the 84 olympics back when I was flying and put them in a Royal 46 size Bearcat. They were so smooth that I decided to always use cf tubes and good linkage from then on. Today's cf tubes are lighter than the arrowshafts were. The 2-56 type with the titanium ends from Central Hobbies are unbelievably light. My electronic postal scale only measures in 1/10th ounces, and a pair of 35" tubes with the ends are 6/10th oz.

Fiber CA hinges were new to me, and had I to build this plane again I'd probably open the slots a bit and install good nylon/metal pin hinges instead. I don't plan on doing alot of high G manuvering at speed, but the thought of cycle fatigue on CA hinges bothers me. I didn't know about the crayon trick, but I did work the hinges while the CA was drying so they're good and flexible.

The flaps are 9.75" ( Ailerons are 14.25" ). While this means I will have less aileron action, my flying style is more scale like so I think they will work well.

BTW dry weight with the stock landing gear is 5lbs., 12oz. ( with a Dave Brown 2.5" spinner, APC 12x5 prop, and 1/2" carbon strips epoxied on the bottom of the wingtip end ribs for some runway scrape protection ). It's a bit heavier than I'd hoped for, but the flaps will help in this regard. I also mounted a 1"control horn on the lower rear end of the fuselage to protect the rudder on less than perfect flairs. 3/4" would have been a better choice here though. I'll trim it. I've got the receiver antenna in a clear nylon tube on the underside of the fuse, and the end of the antenna slips into the control horns holes to secure the last inch or so.

I bought a Futaba 7CAP for this plane, as my old radios were.. old.. Right now I've got the surface movements as suggested in the Seagull instructions. I set up dual rates on the flying surfaces with 20% expo on low and 40% on high. I also have the CG right at 80mm from the leading edge as directed in the instructions. Given that I've moved the gear forward ( I couldn't believe how much energy it took to push the tail down with the gear in the stock position.. I need a bumper sticker that says "Got Long runway?" ), Is the stock 80mm balance point correct? I know some aisan kits have gotten that spec wrong in the past.

Thanx for any feedback or suggestions..

Bill