Found an interesting situation. I bought a new ST 45 for this plane,and in fitting the engine and mounting plate in, found that the engine fits low. The backplate of the 2.25" spinner is about 6 mm below the bottom edge of the fuse nose. Since they provide 3 different mounting plates, I expiremented and found out that adding one of the other plates brings the engine to the correct position, so I laminated the two together, trimmed the assembly to fit with a sanding drum in my trusty Dremel, marked the mounting holes, and am just waiting for 3 coats of Lustercoat to dry so I can drill the mounting holes and add 4-40 T nuts. I usually use 6-32 machine screws to mount anything over a .40, but I am concerned about having enough wood to hold the T nuts. Since about all I have left to do is mount the engine, tank, throttle push rod, battery, canopy, and reciever, I might be able to give it it's maiden Sunday. And so far I have less than 6 hours involvement.

I have been leery of using the imported hardware for years. In fact, in an article in the English magazine Aviation Modeler International, one of the contributors actually recommended replacing wire and other hardware in the non-American kits and ARFs with American K-S, DuBro, and Sullivan products.