Call me a maniac (others do) but...

The Cap's started. Fuse sides are done, and F2 and F3 are curing in the right side as I type. *heh* (I'll get some pics up tomorrow, hopefully)

Thus far, I must echo most of what sscherin said above:

Everything seems to be decently cut...which is to say, no dinged edges, anything like that. And everything is, indeed, CNC routed or laser cut...not die-crushed.

I'm less than impressed with the precision, however. Having recently worked on Top-Flight's big mustang, which WAS die cut, I got spoiled by how nicely EVERYTHING lines up in that kit. From the very first step here, putting the fuse doublers in, already I see where some holes are enough off that some drilling/opening will be required. The instructions suggest you align the doublers using the fiber tube and a 1/2" dowel....nice idea, except both holes don't line up, so you CAN'T. Not a big deal...will just mean that things have to be cleaned out as we move along.

The wood seems to be of decent quality...no rips, splintering, anything like that. Certainly not the lightest stuff though. To be certain, the plane could absolutely be built with the wood available, imo, but it's an easy and relatively inexpensive thing to replace. I won't replace everything, obviously, but I DID just order some contest grade sheeting from National Balsa to do the wings, stabs, and turtledeck. That alone should take a fair amount of weight out of her.

Speaking of weight...good lord. Apparently, when Lanier went shopping for the aluminum to make the gear and wing tube, they requested some sort of aluminum/lead alloy. I'm fairly certain I own .40 sized planes that weigh less than either of those things. There's definitely some carbon fiber in our future here, at least for the wing tube. (We'll see if we need some weight up front before chucking the gear)

The cowl is, as reported above, some sort of ABS plastic monstrosity that fits together as well as...err...as well as two things that don't fit together will. I shan't bother you with another picture, but suffice to say that sscherin's above is "flattering".

All of that aside however, it seems a fairly simple kit, and has the feel of one that's going to go together fairly quickly. And, as mentioned above, none of the stock stuff is "unusable"...I just think some judicious purchases here and there will deliver a lot of "bang for the buck" as it were.