Thanks for the info. So here it is. A plain Seamaster with the 58cd. The seamaster looks original but the front half has been completely redone. Eventually I would like to personalize it a little but for now I've just been patching it to match the original trim scheme. I've nicknamed it patches from all the repairs it's had.

Just a little info on the rcv if anybody is interested. I'm currently swinging a Master airscrew 12x6 @9600rpm with about two hours on the engine. Imediately after break in I was only getting about 9000 rpm on the same prop but rpms kept improving the more fuel I ran through it. Normal flight times on a 10oz tank is about 40-50 min. This engine sounds really good compared to the buzz of the .46ax. Power is excellent with lots of bottom end torque but doesn't quite have the top end that the ax had. I found that this engine is very close in weight to the AX. Also, the oily mess is almost non existent. I added a small oil tank for the vent line using a small advil bottle which collects the majority of the oil. The oil tank is about a third full after passing an entire tank of fuel through it. You can see the oil tank right underneith the engine. The engine mount is also homemade out of 1/4" aluminum.

Being all the way up here in Canada, I end up fying in fairly cold weather. This engine has no issues that I can see from the cold. I've come up with a couple of starting aids which has really helped. First I made my own choke flap to help prime the engine because I was having a tough time getting my finger between the firewall and the engine to prime the carb. That also helps keep the fuel off my fingers. That fuel is very cold on the hands especially in cold weather. The second tip is to richen your high speed needle one turn AND the low speed needle half a turn. I found that if you just open the high speed, it won't start at low speed settings or not at all.

This plane suffered a major crash awhile back which completely destroyed the fuse up to where the wing mounts. I posted a pic in the crashes section under "oh man" of the actual wreckage. I kept all the pieces, of course, glued them back together and copied them with light ply. Because it was so cold, and or the kind of glue that was used, every glue joint failed in the crash. Anyway, I bought this thing as an arf so I had no plans for reference so I used pics taken before the crash to get it as close as I could to the original. The first filght after rebuilding proved to be rather tough as it had a real hard time getting off the water and felt unstable in the air. After playing with the cg for an afternoon it was flying better but still wasn't like it used to be.

I ended up finding a set of plans on ebay and when I received them I realized what I had done. I had build the fuse too stright which in turn changed the incidence of the main wing to the fuse. Basically the stab was trying to pull the nose down. The easiest solution to my screw up was to cut the stab off and change its incidence. That's why there is still a bit of covering missing on the horizontal stab. I couldn't believe the difference it made. She went from hard to fly to a floater!