Got my CA Models Eclipse Kit today via UPS from Planes Plus. Shipped Wednesday, arrived Friday.

First impression of a quick glance through the contents : Very nice!!!!

Fuse: Perfectly straight and light. Perfect fit of canopy and chin cowl. Fuse weight with canopy and chin cowl 26Oz's. Fuse will need no formers for strength, this dude is stiff. Looks as if the stiffness is accomplished by foam being inside the glass structure during molding. Should help eliminate any oil-canning effect the glass fuses are well known for.

Firewall included, its very light as well. Its glassed over, composite material,.


Wing/Stab: Pre-sheeted! I have been sheeting wings along time. For myself and others. This is as good as I could do, probably better. Great balsa. Light, good grain.

Sub ribs are installed. can see them down the tube hole. lined up nicely with the bore. Tube slid right into holes with a snug fit.

Wheel pants. Very Nice. Light. Fiberglass . They are made like the Bollys with a recess for the gear legs to fit into.


Aluminum Gear. Nice. Did not weigh them yet, but will do fine. I may replace with Bollys. , but probably not, as the Bollys have increased in price to near $50 now, and these gear look nice. A shinny polishing, and they will be great.

Wood pack.

Did not open, but looked through the plastic. 2 sheets of laser cut parts. Look as if all the parts are there that you will need to completely finish all the framing. That will be a first ever in many ,many pattern planes I have built. Looks as if Mr. Columbo has covered all the bases with this kit.

Also included: Wing and stab tube, Wing and stab adjusters.
Preshaped wing tips ,,Precut landing gear mount.

Plans and instructions: None. Mine may have been left out of the box. But as far as I can tell, none really needed.(except we will need to know CG and tail servo locations at some point) If you have built a pattern plane before, this one will be a piece of cake. All the markings as to where to locate all the holes for tubes, thrust-lines etc, are molded into fuse. Servos cutouts marked on panels. Sweet!!

Only thing,, I will need to find CG location. No problem there, as Mr. Columbo has included his email on the supplied shock-wave generated CD. There may be instructions on the CD , but I'm not for sure yet. Will check it out tonite.

I guess I will do a construction page on my web-page if anyone is interested. Let me know of any interest.

The plane looks super cool !! Looks alot like a Smargdz.

All this for less than $600 to your door.. Mighty dang good deal in my opinion. Planes Plus ( the US distributor) said he would be doing some advertising here on RCU soon, so look for some info there. Also Doug Cronkite is a rep for the line of planes, and you can PM here as to availability and pricing structures. I am not a rep, nor have any other business dealings with Planes Plus,(other than giving them my money) any opinions are my own, in no way associated with CA Models or Planes Plus.

If anyone has a questions as to the kit, ask away, and I will be glad to answer what I can. I plan on fully checking it out this evening. I will have a better opinion once I have got it all out , and really went over it well.

Let just hope it flies as good as it looks. We shall see. Check the web-page out to see some more info later and my construction of the Eclipse.