Ernie,

Thanks for the reply, you are right, there is a second set of holes, but they appear not to be for the nose gear. They do not line up with the main nose gear mount. They would have to be reamed out to line up. Also, the bosses for the gear are much sturdier and obviously intended for the gear. Use of the ones you are talking would be unsanitary at best. With my propensity for landing nose gear first, I want the toughest installatiion I can get.

I don't have anything to measure very small angles that may be built into the mount, but it appears to be streight. The "manual" talks about 2 degrees right offset. I'm thinking that I will use the mount as it appears to be built, for a "head up" engine. This would also have the benefit of protecting the muffler from crunches during my nose gear first landings!

Ace Hobbies has a customer service number for Thunder Tiger products. Even though I wanted to fly this thing this weekend.
I guess I'll wait and call them on Monday.