The struts are fine. Mine came warped, and I had to put them in hot water, then iron them between 2 cotton rags to get them flat. After a BUNCH of flying, crunching and repairing... I finally replaced the struts with balsa.

Cut the battery slot to allow the battery to slide forward into the cowl. The added power of an extra cell is great. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img] 2 extra cells is better. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img] You can widen the battery slot for the larger cells with no problem, but the heavier cells will have you wanting more power. (more cells... more weight... vicious cycle here.)

With the heavier weight of the larger cells, the wings need stiffening. In the LOWER wing only: Install 1/4 X 1/8 medium balsa parallel to the LE, (1/4 inch is vertical.) appx along the 30% chord line (high point of airfoil) from center to just outboard of the interplane struts. (you'll have to carve a bit of foam only at the dihedral break) Use the GWS glue, or yellow glue. Carve a 2 inch long piece of 3/8 X 1/4 medium balsa into a dihedral brace, (some odd angles to carve...) and glue it in with 30 min epoxy, to the rear side of the balsa spars. 80%+ of the wing flexing in flight will be eliminated. No need to do anything to the upper wing.

The little GWS motor doesn't have a lot of extra power... The Tiger flys SLOWLY. You gain altitude faster with the fuselage near level than by trying to point the nose up. It is VERY easy to fly the thing in a stalled condition and wonder why it won't climb if you are used to .40 powered trainers and higher performance planes. Think like you are flying a GLIDER (nose up is death) until you gain familiarity with the plane. Once you are familiar with it... it does some neat aerobatics.

This is not the best beginner's plane...