I'm quite handy with a TIG welder (if I do say so myself
) so I will make my own exhaust for the Saito. I am trying to decide whether to exit the exhaust in the scale location (4 each side I think ???) or out the bottom of the cowl. I'm not so much worried about the mess the side exits will make, but I am concerned they would block off too much airflow from escaping the cowl. I am reluctant to progress too far with the build untill I get the engine. I plan to do the basics (fit control surfaces, retracts, join the wing etc...) then mount the engine and see how much I will need to move the radio gear around to get the C/G right.
One thing I am thinking of doing is removing some material from the wooden block on the fuse where the rudder hinges attach. It seems to be made of a fairly hard (and I assume heavy) piece of wood, and there would be no harm in removing some material there. This should help a little with getting the balance right.
What do you think about the hinges? mine has big ones for the ailerons, but smaller ones elswhere. I was thinking of stepping up the size of the small ones to some robarts (at least for rudder and elev.) My kit didn't come with the blocks shown in the instructions to support the hinges either.
I am also concerned about the friction of the fiberglass pushrods for the elevators. Might change it to solid carbon tubes, and get rid of the guide tubes. That reminds me, I got all the hardware for the rudder pull/pull, except the cable. Did yours come with the kit? Good excuse to upgrade to kevlar anyway I suppose....