Bo:
I got the plane from a friend who had it professionaly buildt but it was crashed on the maiden. Nose had to be rebuildt, tail snapped off and damage to the wing tubes, etc. I think it was more work rebuiding it than starting over. This may explain the extra weight but I was very careful and actually thought the plane would weight less because I scrapped off and enormous amount of paint and replaced 5 lbs of nicads with li-ion. Original weight was unknown. I think the cause of the first crash was low airspeed combined with a rearward cg. I got ahold of the current manufacturer for the correct cg, thus the 4lbs in the nose. The cg is recommended less than 2" behind the firewall with the wheels up which is several inches forward of the traditional 1/3 of the cord which is where it was balanced before. The plane was completely stripped so I can say that it is a well put together kit.

I can't remember the manufacturer of the main wheels. The nose wheel is a BVM with brake and I use the BVM smooth brake system. I put it on the nose only for simplicity and the fact that I just wanted to keep the plane from rolling on pavement at idle and controlling at slow speeds.

Can you explain the 50lb AMA waiver process? Not familiar with it...........
Paul