Glad to have you. Especially since you will be using much of what Tom suggested.

Engine and Hardware

Engine

The box with the 3mm-53 engine and the optional hardware kit arrived today. I must say, the engine casting looks better than most of the 3w castings I have seen, and that has been a lot of engines! I have four 3w engines here at the house right now and not one of them looks as good as the 3mm. The machine work on the hub is very clean. The hub bolt pattern is the same as a DA-100 so if you have one of the DA drill guides laying around it will be a good tool. Don't despair if you do not. If you have access to a drill press and take your time you can use the prop washer itself. Just make sure your work is secure and don't rush the holes. Once you have the first hole drilled drop a short bolt through the prop washer and prop to keep everything aligned and drill away!

This particular carb came fully equipped with usable throttle and choke levers. What a welcome change. I've become so fed up with engine suppliers sending out aircraft engines with a throttle tab designed for a weed eater and not usable on a plane so I'm extremely relieved to see an engine I don't have to modify. Thanks Tom, hope that's being done with all of them. Heck, even the fuel inlet is pointing the right way for a change. Most of the new engines I usually see have the inlet pointed to the side or down for some reason. In some cases even forward! All the carb levers rotate in the right directions, forward and aft. There's no awkward or difficult linkage arrangements that will be needed to make everything work right. Definately plug and play for the most part.

Intreresting positioning of the carb. In an upright position, the carb is located low on the left side of the case with the needles angled down and slightly aft. I do not ever suggest that a carb be tuned with a spinning propeller and I don't so so now, but with a cowl removed the carb needles are accessable from behind the engine and on the "top" in an inverted engine installation. Hmmmm, pretty nice!.

Too bad the muffler is always inside the cowl. This one is well polished and would look good outside the cowl. Oh well. Note the baffle inside the muffler. This is a step up from most mufflers which are usually nothing more than a means to divert the exhaust out and away form the engine, and have no form of baffle at all. The baffle will help considerably in reducing exhaust noise, and may well reduce it to a level where noise sensitive fields may not require a cannister. That saves money!!

Tom has provided a 4 page set of engine instructions that anyone should be able to understand and follow. Probably the best set of "working" directions I have ever seen. Step by step how to tune the engine, what to listen for and what to do. He also included a 1 pint bottle of Pennzoil Air Cooled Two Stroke oil so you can't go wrong if you simply read and follow the instructions. Save everyone and yourself a lot of time, work, and frustration and read the instructions before starting the engne the first time. Please.

The instructions contain information that will help the user in correctly securing the propeller. Pay attention to this section closely since propeller hubs from various manufacturers are not the same in thickness and may require the use of a longer or shorter prop bolt in some cases.

Of course the engine comes with the ignition and CM-6 spark plug. All you'll need to complete the engine installation is a switch and battery for the ignition.

Looking at the cylinder head and inside the exhaust port reveals some nice features. The piston uses a twin ring design which greatly assists in shedding heat. The inside exhaust port is "ovaled", which helps the ring positioning inside the cylinder, holding the rings better in the piston and reducing ring wear where they pass over the exhaust port. The cylinder head itself has a lot of fin area. More than adaquate to keep this baby cool in most installations and requiring only a little help from the user in tightly cowled applications.

As noted in the instructions the ignition timing is pretty much fixed. There is a small amount of adjustment available in the hall sensor, but only about 5 or 6 degrees total overall. The nice thing about that is it means that engine pretty much has to be correctly timed when it gets to the user. There's not enough room to get it wrong.

Hardware

Since I know the question will come up at least twice before this build thread is concluded I'm going to list the full contents of the optional hardware pack. As follows:

(1) Dubro 24 ounce fuel tank
(1) Dubro Gas Conversion Stopper, use this one not the one that comes with the tank. The one with the tank is for glow fuel and will melt with gas.
3 feet Dubro 1/8"i.d. tygon fuel tubing. !/8 will easily feed a 150cc engine so there's no need for anything larger.
(2) Dubro 2"x3/16" Steel Axle Shafts.
(4) Dubro 3/16" wheel collars
Approximately 10 feet of pull/pull rudder cable and associated hardware.
(4) Wild Hare ball link assemblies for 4-40 rod with 8-32 screws for elevator and aileron horns. No "A" nuts. You don't need them.
(7) Servo extension "keepers". They've come to be known as "squiggles" and work well.
(2) 1/16" hairpin cotters. A very nice safety when used in the anti rotation wing dowels.
(4) Sullivan clevises. The good kind.
(1) Fuel line "Tee".
(1) Fuel dot. Glue or silicone in type that works very well.
(2) 4-40x1" nylon screws.
(2) 1 foot lengths of 3/16" fiberglass tubing for control rods.
(2) 4-40x 12" threaded rods with nylon clevises. I haven't figurerd out what these are for yet. Probably choke and throttle.
(1) 4/40x12" all thread rod for the inside of the fiberglass tubes. Includes instructions for making the pushrods. Too easy.
Miscelleneous nuts, bolts, screws, and washers.
(2) 3-1/2" Dubro treaded wheels.
(2) Wild Hare rudder horns and (1) 8-32 screw. Very similar to the Dubro long tab type.

Typically the tail wheel assembly and hinges come in the box with the plane. As a rule there will also be an additional package of factory supplied hardware. Some of it you'll use, and some you won't. The factory supplied metric axles are pretty soft and the metric wheel collars often don't fit. I guarantee that you won't find a wrench or socket that fits them of any type other than Crescent. That's why Wild Hare provides the option of a stronger Dubro set in the optional harware pack. An aluminum wing tube will be standard.

I ordered a carbon wing tube to go with the plane since my flying style always bends aluminum ones. Also obtained was a 22-10 Bunny prop. I had been thinking that the 10 pitch might be a bit much but looking at this pretty piece of wood is making me think it may be a good choice. We'll see about that later. Nice to see the Bunny has now made it to the prop blades. Kinda rounds things out if you will.

I'll be using a 3-1/2" Esprit Models fiberglass spinner on this one. They come in one color, white, and I don't know if I'll get around to painting it or not. They weigh nothing. The only real weight is the aluminum backplate and a good portion of that has been removed to lighten the spinner even more. Easy to fit and cut, and the inside of the backplate center is raised and ribbed to better hold the prop for those using only a center prop bolt. Since the spinner is secured to the backplate at the side with four 3mm button head allen screws you don't need a prop adapter or long spinner screw. With the 3mm engine, you would not need a spinner adapter in any case. The end of the prop shaft is drilled and tapped to accept a spinner bolt. I'm not sure of the screw size yet but it appears to be the same as the prop retention screws.

That's it for now, the plane should arrive next week. Hopefully all the above will clear any questions about the engine and hardware kit. It's a good value with quality parts and will save a lot of time going to a hobby shop. At today's gas prices that's saying a lot. I'll be back with more when the plane arrives.