So overall I'd have to give this plane an A+, fit and finish is excellent, covering is top notch and all the small details that are done in advance just make it a dream to assemble. I calculated that it took me 7 hours of actual time, that includes me cutting the engine box and removing 10mm for the longer can Hacker motor. There was nothing difficult about the assembly, it goes together easily, the parts fit and nothing has to be cut, clipped, sanded or altered for a perfect finish. I replaced 3 items, the wheels (I like rubber, not foam), the tail wheel bracket (I don't like the rudder taking the weight of the plane so I used a Sullivan 12 lb.) and the tail wheel itself (again, rubber).

Tips;

1.) Don't forget the wing tube when unpacking, it's taped to the bottom box section. I almost threw it away!

2.) The Aileron servo cutouts are shallow enough that the servo bottom hits the ply layer on the top of the wing. My experience was that you can get them screwed down without bulging the top surface without packing out the
mounts.

3.) Use 6" extensions for the aileron servos, the standard leads hanging from the servos almost make it to the wing edge so only a little extra is all you need.

4.) If you use the included control rods and ball joints (I did, they are fine), make sure to use thread lock or CA (wicked with a pin or something similar) to make sure they don't come undone.

5.) When deciding on the motor, feel free to use a larger can and cut out a section from the motor box, it's quite simple to do (thank you Jeff, I wouldn't have tried without you suggesting it).

6.) When mounting the cowl, make sure you hold it UP rather than pressing it down against the top surface. You need a slight gap for sliding the canopy in at an angle before it drops into place (thank you jooNorway, wouldn't have thought of it first and I too would have had no room!).

7.) When mounting the "lift surfaces" to the landing gear, use gap filling or medium CA like they say in the manual. I thought at first this wouldn't last 10 seconds but it has proven very durable with drops every half inch and held in place for 30 seconds.

8.) When running the 24" elevator extension through the fuselage, cut out one of the small holes in the air dam at the bottom to route the wire by using an exacto knife and accessing it THROUGH THE BOTTOM AIR VENT HOLES in the fuselage. You can get in easily and if you instead run the extension up high, you risk getting in the way of the pull-pull cables not to mention having no extra room to get to the receiver comfortably.

9.) When running the pull-pull cables, cross them over themselves in an "x" pattern. This is not evident from the manual but if you look closely at the 2 possible wire paths, running them without crossing actually causes a bend where they pass through the fuse tubes. Likewise when you run the wire, only poke a pin hole through the covering where the tube is located rather than cut out the covering in an oval. The pinhole is all you need to push the wire through to run it and it looks tight!

10.) The APC 17" prop fits fine with 3/4" to 1" ground clearance at takeoff attitude. If you fly from grass go smaller but if you fly from something hard, a 17" is not a problem.

Flight info to follow as the maiden is this Saturday @ 7:30 AM!

Jack