Hello again dbair

Here is a little more detailed description of my modifications. I first moved the rear former of the front bay where the gas tank would normally sit, ahead 1.5 inches then cut off the rest of the nose, and glued my firewall in place. The finished product more closely resembled the nose of a newport 17. I bought new wire for the landing gear to extend it 1.5 inches longer than the original, and swept it forward at the wheels 1.5 inches. This moved the weight of the wheels forward to help compensate for the weight shift in moving the engine back. I made my tail feathers from 1/4 inch stick, instead of the sheeted ones that came in the kit, also to compenstate for the weight shift. I used nyrod for the tail surface controls, instead of the wire, which also helped to reduce the tail weight. My final weight compensation item was to use 1/2 inch larger wheels than the plan calls for. I believe I had to add approximately 4 or 5 0z of weight to the nose for final balance. The final all up weight was just under 7 lbs. I am a firm believer in building light. I flew this plane with a K&B 65 sportster, which is the same one on the float plane in the photo, It could have used a little more power. I eventually put a super tiger 60 on it which worked better. I made the cowl out of the lower third of a fuel jug. The same as I did on the tan one in the photo. My final modification was to make the ailerons extend from the first rib outside the fuselage, out to the wing tip. This plane flew very well and was very airobatic. The one I am about to build will have a saito 65 four sroke, with a 12 x 8 or 13 x 8 prop on it. If you don't want to get into all of that extra work, and expense, then just shorten the nose up a couple of inches, which is what I did on the float plane in the photo. This still allowed me to use the original cowl, and still gave the plane a nice overall look. However I do recomend that you extend the landing gear 1 to 1 1/2 inches in lenght and add a 1/2 inch larger wheel than called for. I do this on all of my planes, and it makes them much better on ground handling, and able to contend with longer grass. I personally think they look a lot better sitting up farther off the ground, the way a steerman does. That's about it, I hoped this info helped answer some of your questions. If you have any more questions please feel free to ask, and good luck with your build. P.S. These are merely a description of what I did, and not recommendations. Except for the landing gear thing.

Videoheidiho