Forgive the mess in the pictures. I got done and took the pics without cleaning up first.

I enjoyed the build. It took about 2 weeks with my limited time, so someone with time available could probably do it in a few days. The quality of the kit is very nice, but some of the parts are VERY thin and very breakable. For example, the fuel tank mount is two very thin pieces of webbed balsa. Just inserting the fuel tank I heard a crack at almost every push. I ended up sanding the mount very lightly so that the tank finally went through.

The landing gear looks very flimsy. Doesn't feel like it's heavy enough to handle even a slightly hard landing.

The rudder bowed down a little so I had to cut off a good 1/4 inch with a mitre saw and then sand it until it sat flush on both sides.

I'm using my OS 46AX in it which I took out of my Avistar, and I'll be putting the TT .46 Pro into The Avistar as a replacement. Prop is 12x4.

A few other little annoyances, but all in all it was fun. Just more experience before I start my Four Star 60 kit.

Everything on the radio is set for 50% throws on low rates, and the flaperons are set to 25%. I will take some more pics when the weather gets nicer, but these will have to do for now.

Thanks to Bruce (again) for having patience with me and answering my questions!

G'day Mate,
Good job, well done, only a few comments, these are NOT criticisms,
use the alloy spinner, the plastic ones are almost always out of balance & can shake the crap out of a light airframe, & make sure your prop is balanced as well, make sure your prop has clearance from the spinner, we don't want the prop breaking due to rubbing on the spinner, the MA props flex a lot, so give it some clearance.

Looks real good. Should be a dynamite flyer.

Couple of things you may want to do before you do its' maiden.

Re-enforce the inside of the fuselage where the leading edge of the wing is. It is a weak spot and the fuselage may crack there on anything but a perfect landing. (Dont ask how I know about that )

Check the firewall. MANY of the ARFS are coming through with firewall just butt glued to the fuselage sides AND with hot glue. If you don't see any re-enforcement on the rear of the firewall, I would epoxy in some basswood tri stock (the U-CAN-DO is VERY well known for this firewall problem. A friend had the firewall on his U-Can-Do pop out the first time he started the engine )

Looks good Pete. Make sure you are going to have good air flow over the cylinder head for cooling. It needs both an inlet and an outlet for flow and the outlet will usually need to be bigger than the inlet.
Get one of the experienced guys to maiden it for you on first flight, at least get it in the air and trimmed. That's when the surprises usually happen. [:@]

BTW - What fueling method did you end up going with?

Thanks everyone.

Bruce, I was going to cut a bigger hole in front of the head since there are only two little slots cut for airflow. There are lots of little and not-so-little holes in the cowl to allow the air to escape, but I don't feel those slots are big enough for adequate cooling. Just one more thing on the list of things to do before it's really "finished".

The hole I cut for the glow igniter is also too small, so I need to widen that at some point as well. I also want to install the blind nuts to hold the wing bottom on, since it's pretty weak the way it looks now.

I also need to look over the entire plane and find the really weak points to strengthen them up. In looking through some of the old posts about the Spirit, there are quite a few parts where the wood is very weak like Campy suggested. (Thanks Campy!) I built it just for the experience and to be a lazy flyer with the ability for performance but I also don't want it to fall apart in mid air.

I have some Dubro nylon landing gear that I might end up installing. We'll see how the stock landing gear handles things.

I haven't decided what fueling method to go with yet. The fuel dots look good, so I might end up going with that. In the fuel tank there is a third nozzle for a fill tube, but I didn't cut it open. I'll probably end up getting some fuel dots at the LHS this week if they carry it.

Mounting the receiver/battery is very very tough. The instructions show them being tied to the fuel tank mount, but like I said, that wood is VERY thin and weak. It's like you could blow on it and it would snap. I might end up cutting up some spare balsa and building a kind of mounting bracket for them and epoxying it in. They just kind of flop around right now.

I guess I would have to say that I'm not feeling very comfortable with the plane. It seems like there are so many things on it that are weak, too thin, not laid out very well (battery/receiver mount) etc. It feels like on the very first flight it'll just fall apart. I have to spend some time this week going over the entire plane and finding the parts I'm not happy with and fixing them. I have some 1/16 and 1/8 5-ply that I can use, and I can pick up some triangle stock when I go to the LHS.

I might end up putting on the aluminum spinner as well, but that's a significant weight difference.

With a fuel dot, where does the line go into? The fill nozzle on the fuel tank? Wouldn't the fuel come spitting out of the carb when the tank is full?

No. Since you have the muffler outside of the cowl simply remove the pressure line from the muffler. When the tank is full the fuel will come out of the pressure line.

Ken

All the parts are thin, flimsy and light because it is a 3D plane. Designed to hang on the prop. You might sub some lite ply of same thickness for the balsa in the tank and radio gear mounting areas. Kinda depends on how much 3D you're planning on doing. More weight requires more power to hover.

On the fuel dot thing, same as what Ken said and also keep carb fully closed during fueling to minimize fuel coming thru it.

The Spirit is really easy to hang and flies well ... my only issue is the CA hinge, its a little plasticky, make sure you give it a few more drops of CA! I have seen it come off when it got knocked as someone walked by, nothing broke but the hinges came off. Enjoy her ... try to go with an APC ... 11x5 is nice.

Thanks Tianci. I used Dubro nylon pinned hinges with hinge glue. I read some reports of the CA hinges failing on it, and I used nylon hinges for my Avistar, so it was a no brainer.

I am going to reinforce a few areas over the next couple of days. It's a gorgeous plane, just seems so fragile.

In building I also noticed one of the ribs was cracked at the leading edge of the left wing. It doesn't seem so bad. I could probably cut a small slot in the covering and throw some CA or wood glue onto it and put some clear tape over it. Doesn't seem like it'll affect anything, but it's an imperfection.

Accomplished last night:

Cut a new hole in the cowl for fill tube.
Widened glow igniter hole.
Drilled new hole through firewall for fill tube
Drilled out the fill nozzle on fuel tank
Replaced red plastic spinner with my aluminum spinner. Wondering if the 2.5 inch spinner I have for my 61 FX will fit on the 46 AX. Might look better than the 2.25.

Measured out a piece of 5 ply to cut and install into the fuse to hold battery and receiver. I might cut out a flat piece and cut holes in it like my Avistar, or I might just epoxy in two pieces of small dowel and use Velcro strips. Still trying to decide. I also don’t want to screw up the CG, since if I epoxy something in, the choices of battery placement are severely limited. Thoughts? I probably should have taken pics to show the space I have to work with. The attached screenshot from the manual will have to do.

Most annoying thing about cowl planes is you have to remove the muffler to get the cowl off. So you had better make sure entire engine compartment is absolutely done before putting the cowl on and bolting up the muffler. I had to take everything off including the engine to drill that new fuel tube hole, and when I got everything bolted back up I noticed I forgot that little 2 inch piece of fuel tubing that goes on the engine from the mixture to the carb. Sigh! Had to rip everything apart again. My own fault for not checking!

That and the smell of fiberglass while cutting. Ugh. I set up a small fan at the end of the room to blow across. Isn't fiberglass dust supposed to be dangerous? I wore a surgeon's mask anyway.

I think for the fuel mounts I'll just try to brace it somehow. It doesn't seem too bad if I'm not going to attach the batt/rx but it's still so flimsy. See the second attached pic, although it's kind of tough to see.

Plugging along! Hoping to get to the field on Sunday.

Pete - those 2 formers are rather weak, push the tank in too hard and they will crack ... don't ask me how I know!

Yeah I know! Just the slightest pressure and I heard little tiny cracks. I ended up sanding them down a tiny bit.

Problem is, the instructions tell you to mount he rx/batt to the first former. That's the part I don't like. With it set up that way, the rx/batt kind of float around. Lots of movement.

1. Don't breathe ANY fumes or dust that can be avoided.
2. Often weight can be saved in plywood by using lightening holes. Pay attention to strength though.
3. Flimsy balsa can sometimes be strengthened by soaking with thin CA - watch out for fumes. Do all trimming prior to CA due to hard to sand after.

Absolutely!!! Especially any dust from materials that have fibers such as fiberglass. This can be a quick trip to respiratory problems. The best advice is to not sand indoors if you can help it at all. If you must do sanding indoor get good air movement in ventilation (like the fan you are using) and use a mask to keep from breathing the fibers in!

Ken

I think I recall telling Pete in an email about using a box fan to DRAW the fumes and dust across the table and to tape an ordinary furnace filter across the fan to trap the particles to keep them from circulating throughout the house. The filter will also capture some of the fumes, but not all.

Yeah, I only have a small fan downstairs. I put it at the end of the whole room so it's providing a very light breeze. That and the surgical mask should have helped quite a bit. I do have to get a filter though.

I just finished my spirit and i love it![link]http://flyhardcrashsoft.blogspot.com[/link] I went with a OS .52 Surpass on the nose. It will hang on the prop, but has no power past that. I will be switching out the engine soon. This plane deserves a bit more.

Sweet! I had it out today for a bit. Zero wind, so it was some very nice flying. I put it on high rates and really started getting a feel for the plane. I was doing low inverted passes over the runway, and trying to get used to hovering.

By the way, the .46 AX gives the Spirit unlimited vertical. Using a 12x4 prop. About 3 clicks above half throttle will get it to hover.

Couldn't get the plane to knife edge at all. Every time I'd roll on the side and hit the rudder, it would start dipping towards the ground. I suppose one of the guys at the field will have to help me out on that one. Nose heavy perhaps? Not enough throttle?

Very happy with the plane. I went to this from my Avistar, so it will be nice to fly while I build my Four Star 60.

Can you adjust for more rudder? Move pushrod to different holes or adjust EPA or both. Make sure it doesn't hit the elevator.

The rudder is at the max of its movement. Any further and it will impact the elevators. It has a lot of movement. Maybe I didn't have it fast enough or something.