Can't believe it's already 5 years and a month since I started mine and still not finished!

The main reason was all the snags with the kit and inaccuracies with the plans, screwball instruction sequence, poor grade materials, missing materials and so on. I got fatigued several times and just pushed it aside to take a breather. [&o]

My suggestion is that you read each step of construction for each component several times since you may want to alter the building sequence to make several steps easier to do (the landing gear mount is a perfect example of this) and check all parts sizes to plans and the instruction book. I found that many times I had three sets of numbers doing this. For instance, the location for the top rear stringers is different on the plans and in the book. The bulkheads which are to be constructed on the plan were a different size there from what is shown in the side and top views on the plan. The wing tube socket is shown in contact with the shear webs in the wing. This does not happen in real life, as their is a roughly 1/32" gap to be filled in the outboard ends of the socket. The first shear webs are 1/8" ply. Those furterh out are 3/32" balsa. If you look at the plan, you will see that the solution is to just draw a thicker line by those thinner shear webs to make it look as though the fir is propper. So what if it doesn't fit? It's not the only part like that. There is now way in the world that the filler blocks on the wing leading edge at the cabin are 3/8" thick. My wings fit exactly the plans, as does my fuselage width. It was more like 1/8". Good thing I keep lots of extra wood in many different sizes on hand.

The fuselage lite ply side pieces were a very poor fit. The tabs and notches all had to be recut so that things would fit. Oh, and then the resulting gaps had to be filled too. [&o]

I found that in many cases there was a shortage of strip wood. No, I did not mis cut. When you add up all the lenghts required and come up about 12 or more inches more of what you get when you add up the lengths of all the pieces supplied, before cutting, that figures to a shortage.

You will also find that the cross section drawing of the aileron is not correct. That is not how it is built. The rear face of your aileron leading edge will not be parallel to the wing chord line but canted forward at the top, since the aileron is built flat on your work table with the rear leading edge parallel to your table top. Picky, I know. Not that it matters in the end, this is just another example of crappy workmanship. Ah, who cares? The customer will figure it out, right?

To build this plane well, if it's anything like my kit, you'll be doing a lot of filling and shimming of gaps for a good fit.

One side window plastic was missing from the kit. There is virtually no hardware included - certainly not anything very useable. I never even opened the bag. I just laughed and tossed it. No pushrods. No clevises. No control horns. No axles. No wheel collars. No throttle connection. No hinges. No nothing.

That excuse for a tailwheel is a problem waiting to happen. Several people report having installed it, much to their chagrin. Same thing if you use those chintzy wood screws and plastic fittings to hold on the wing struts - you'll wish you changed that after a few times putting them on and off. I've installed aluminum strut ends which connect to the fuse and wings with 6-32 socket head cap srews into thread inserts in the wings and to strut attach plates mounted to the fuse.

That reminds me. There is an opening from the location at which each strut attaches to the fuse and the interior of the plane through the sub floor. Since mine is intended to be a seaplane, that is not a good idea. It must be sealed off.

The best part though was the so-so plastic cowling. The parts did not fit very well but that was no problem as I always cover those junky ABS things with fiberglass cloth and finishing resin on the outside. Works great and they look much better.

Virutally everyone has been critical of the landing gear, saying that it is too weak. Taking that as good advice, I've already strengthened it in advance by running another strip of the same width aluminum up one leg, along the top and down the other leg, This is bolted together like a sandwich. We'll see if it holds.

Covered it with Coverite, which is not the same animal since the Evil Empire took it over. I would have preferred my usual Koverall. Too late now. The paint is already going on and the last masking is just about complete for the final color. Might have it ready to fly in another year or so. It's a major pain in the ***** masking off all those stars!

Hope this thing flys as well as people claim, given what it's taken to get this far. I don't expect anything like my CAP 232, but better than my 1/4 size clipped wing Cub would be nice.