Dave,

Thanks for the positive comments. I'm enjoying finding my old building hand...

It'd be great to have another Tsunami build in the works. Building season is starting up! The fuse is the most time consuming part but it goes together fairly quickly. I always find that the assembly and finishing take me a lot longer than I anticipate. Then again, if not done right...

Back to the build:

I completed the shear webs and cap strips on the wing panels. The "bridge truss" shear webs are a little more tedious than using sheet balsa as one has to individually sand the angle into each stick end. The instructions claim this yields a stronger wing which may well be so (I buy it). The aileron servo bays are also complete. Hinging and beveling the ailerons is next and a final LE sand with the spiffy new LE/TE sander I got.

There's a tip section of aileron stock which I'm going to have to fix as it's about 1/16" high compared to the rest. I thought about leaving it but that sounds like a plane always wanting to roll when neutral. This is the disadvantage of not finishing a wing structure while everything is of the same "elasticity". Both my TE stock and my aileron stock were also somewhat warped. If unhappy with the wing, I may end up building another in foam with retracts (but that will be after she flies!).

I also went to work on the engine installation. Since my two Dremels (well, one is a $16 version which replaced my 25 year old original - lasted one month) have locked up (can't remove the chuck) [:@] I went the old fashioned way of sand paper on a dowel. I ended up opening up the fuse a little more than I would have liked as I had to pass the engine mount. The ST S40 carb is also somewhat larger than many so required opening up the nose to allow it to fit and for proper throttle movement. Something to consider if starting a build would be to fuel proof (paint) the FW prior to final nose sheeting and leaving the mount installed. This would allow one to only open as necessary to pass the engine. Final fuel proofing of the bay would however also involve painting the mount.

I thought of giving a "homebrew" method of soft mounting the engine a go. I'm using hard rubber washers behind nylon washers in between the mount and the FW. I'm uncertain about how well the rubber washers will hold up under pressure and fuel presence and concerned that the engine may "loosen up" if they disintegrate. On the other hand, the structure of this aircraft is such that vibration will wreak havoc on it. I may end up cutting a rubber ring the diameter of the mount for a more positive "vibration gap".

Next chapter... hopefully a joined wing and on to the fuse mounting.