LunaSea

Don't be so quick to move the firewall aft. That FPE engine is pretty light and (IMHO) better to add a few ounces of weight to the tail to balance that to have to add a lot more to the nose. There are some aftermarket cowls with cheeks that look good on the plane and reduce the need to have a carb sticking out the side. The included plastic cowl IS usable, best to fiberglass it on the inside to add some stiffness. Put servos in the aft end of the fuselage for the tail surfaces (standard 40 oz. servos WILL fly this plane, faster 100 oz will be a bit crisper in aerobatics). Place other electronics components to balance (especially the receiver battery pack). Be careful to keep all radio wiring as far away from the engine and ignition pack as possible, use a non-metallic link for the throttle. Use Robart 1/8" hingepoints throughout. Put separate aileron servos in each lower wing, build bays about halfway out on the panel. Include paper tubes in the wing for routing wiring. Use light ply to double the entire tail area of the fuselage, it is the weakest part of the design (double it on the INSIDE, including the bottom where the tailwheel bracket will mount). Use small scaps of ply or lite ply to make gussets to put on the inside of the truss joints in the aft fuselage sides (butt joints are inherently weak). Put additional cross braces in the top of the aft fuse structure (under the turtle deck). Consider modifying the forward fuse structure to make the forward top deck (plywood) removeable for access to the tank area and strut attachment points. Imbed 1/8" ply scraps (about 1" square) into the wings at every strut attachment point (the attachments will crush the balsa). Just cut the balsa sheet away to match the scrap and glue it in place, sand the surface contour to match. The supplied landing gear is pretty poor. Modify the forward fuse to accept aluminum or fiberglass formed gear (available at you LHS or other suppliers). Many folks think this plane needs ailerons on the upper wing (search for threads here). If you want the BEST aerobatic performance, that is probably correct. I am not doing so to mine, as I want a more gentle flyer with more "full size" flight characteristics. It is easy to modify the cockpit to add a "seat". A 12" GI Joe fits very nicely in this plane for a pilot figure. Strap him in with 3/8" wide webbing. Adding a bit of area to the rudder is never a bad idea on a taildragger.

Overall, this kit is a fairly straight-forward build and makes up into a quite nice plane.