Just a note to let those interested know how this plane is progressing.

First, to say that the manual is "lacking" may be the understatement of the century. I have spent more time trying to figure out which "screw" or "knurled nut" to use than I have building. The fuzzy pictures in the manual allow little if any detail to be seen. The only thing worse than the fuzzy photos is the lack of detail in the text. Basically you just have to guess about bolt and screw sizes and hope that later you did not need that part somewhere else. The manual simply says to screw a part in place. No mention of screw type, size or any other description. I found that three of the cowling blind nuts are one size and the fourth is another. I guess there could be a reason for this, but you would never know because the instruction sheet simply shows a picture of the cowling installed with the word "bolt" and arrows pointing to the four bolt heads! The control rods that are used for the guide wires on the tail section are missing about half of the threads (usually the center half) so that you cannot get the proper length adjustments. One of the two wheel pants is cracked down the joint line and will have to be replaced.

Other than that everything is going real well! Now I will admit that this is my first plane of this size, so maybe my skills are the problem and they assume that someone building this plane would know all of this stuff and not need good instructions, labeled parts etc. but it sure has not been simple. Hopefully once I get it done it will fly so great that I will forget about all of the hassles. Lets hope so!!

Steven