ORIGINAL: mobyal

OK.
Went and picked up the Sparrowhawk today.
First impressions a pretty good job. But not sure it's $300 worth of good job.
Nice covering and construstion. At first look there was no shipping damage but on closer inspection there's damage in the area below where the horizontal stab mounts. Looks almost like someone pinched the sides together until the wood cracked. It won't be any trouble to fix. Probably some 1/16 ply and CA and about 20 minutes of time!
The airplane appears to be very well designed and fits together really well. Someone mentioned a cowl fit problem, but I sure don't see it at this point. As you'll see from the pics I'll post, it's really one sleek piece of work. But being a racing plane, I guess it should be, lol.
One thing that is clear to me though, is that htere is no way this thing will take a 1.60 2-cycle engine, or a 1.80 4 cycle. Those engines'll pull the airframe apart. In addition, the supplied motor mount won't even take a 1.60 or 1.80; it's too small. And the supplied screws and bolts won't hold them either. Plus the supplied hinges are CA type, and if I were going to use the size engine called for, I'd sure replace those w/ something heavier. I have an EVO 1.0 that I might try to fit when the time comes, but I'll probably go w/ something smaller than that.
Anyway, first impressions are good. Hopefully these pics'll come through.
Al

Well, RCU has decided that I can't post pics tonight. I'll try again tomorrow.