ORIGINAL: TCrafty
Very interesting. I'm starting to wonder when my first Senior might have actually been built. It's definitely not a metal mount. I might have to take some shots of the mounting and post here for posterity.
I've heard all the oohs and ahhs about having a large engine on the plane and when I first got it, there was a 50 Saito on it. It flew around fine. Funny thing though, it was only after I put the 91 OS 4-stroke on it that I started to have folks say that they've never seen a plane fly so slow. Yup, SLOW.... Just cuz it's there, doesn't mean that you've got to have it full throttle all the time. Folks still talk about my first Senior at both of the fields that I frequent and not about how fast it goes. They talk about its stability and smoothness, even when puttering around the field.
I'm thinking of doing a build thread on the build up if anyone might be interested. It will have a different slant to it as this will be my first kit and it'll be a great way for my dad and I to spend some time. We'll see.
I suspect that many folks would do anything else before dealing with drilling/tapping/aligning metal motor mounts. Especially where there is no clear advantage for doing so. I've used the metal motor mounts because I was too cheap to spring for a nylon mount. I don't have access to hard rock maple for engine bearers. Without that type of wood, the wooden bearer type of mount is doomed to die a premature death, even with lots of fuel proofing.
I was not a Sig kit fan. When I buy a model, I want the parts cut out, not printed on sheet balsa (long ago). I also want an easy to use engine saver mount (glass composite) that will break before my engine does.
The folks at Sig have always had too much bleed through of full scale aviation design practices (decalage) for my taste. I always end up eliminating their full scale trim solutions and by the time I get done, I could have scratch built my own design at less expense and much faster. Their later kits were a massive improvement, in my humble opinion.
Ed Cregger