The stock engine will outlast the airframe if it is tuned and maintained properly, proper fuel mix used, and not crashed.

I use 15% Omega in mine, but 10% would probably be ok since it is probably broken in ok. Most engine manufactures reccomend at least 15% nitor fuel for break in, and most reccomend using a fuel with castor oil (about 15%) and do not reccomend fuel with only synthetic oil be used until after break in. If I remember correctly ,15% omega has about 8-10% castor and 6-8% synthetic.

good choice, my friend.....spektrum is a really good brand and all the options are endless.....most of the people at my club are flying spektrum, i think because the recievers are way less expensive than the futabas....the futaba 2.4 rx's start at $100.....plus with ciscovet by your side, i'd say your well on your way......that's a supper nice plane....i have one just like it......i've been flying for over 25 year's and still "alway's" keep a trainer close by......i fly big, 3d profile gasser planes and i still keep the trainer around for those lazy daze when i don't feel like fighting my 3d'ers, but still want to fly......i'm so glad you didn't give up, as stated in your earlier post.....i know you had a rough start, but that's the way it is sometimes.....never give up doing something you love.....be patient, i know this hobby is kinda "technical", not as easy a RC'ing a car or truck, so to speak......i know it's kinda hard, but remember, if it was to easy it would get boring really quick......if it were easy, everybody would be doing it......no gut's, no glory.....no pain, no gain.....ha! ha!, enough with the cliches.....you know what i mean.....don't fade away.....keep us informed with your progress......

Thanks KoolKrabber for the comments and all.

Well, I picked up this gorgeous airplane on Saturday and man does this sucker have ALOT of field equipment.

Everything is in perfect working order and I just need to go out and get fuel and rubberbands for the wings. I guess the box of rubber bands has been sitting next to the plane for quite sometime and "look" like they might be bad but last night I picked one or two out and stretched the heck out of them and they were very very hard to break.
I bound the plane to my new RX and TX and it worked great. All flight controls operated very smoothly.

I am very excited about this plane. I am definately looking forward to my first flight with it.

Now I have some questions!!!!

What brand of 10% nitro should I get?

Can you all please help me learn to tune this baby? It looks much more difficult than a nitro rc truck.
Should I reset the needles to factory settings and go from there?

The plane came with a couple pieces of equipment that uses small lead acid batteries like the electric starter, and the field box power panel.

How would I charge these? I just picked up a great Bantam BC6 charger that will charge lead acid batteries but how do I know how much amperage to charge these batteries with.

Also the RX battery that came with the plane is a 4.8 volt Ni-cad battery. Can I get a nihm battery that would work and live a little longer?

How would I find out how long this battery will operate the radio system before failing?

I noticed that the "skin" of the plane has some smaill wrinkles in a few spots, the guy told me that I can use a hair drier to tighten up the monokote, is this true or will I damage the skin?

I have never worked with monokote coverings, what kind of chemicals can I used to wipe the plane down with?

Thats all I have right now.

Oh and KoolKrabber,..............I'll never give up!

I don't really feel like typing right now, but since I always get excited helping new people out, I'll answer you questions. Welcome to the "dark" side of nitro btw! haha



Have fun man! The biggest thing I can recommend is that you be THOROUGH. You can never be too thorough going through a plane. This includes preflight checks, and making sure your batteries are CHARGED BEFORE YOU FLY! Never fly a battery that's been sitting for over a week without topping it up the night before. Unless it's an a123 or lipo that is. Remember to charge your glow ignitor every few outings, as well as your radio and power panel battery. Your RX and TX batteries are the critical ones!

Make sure you CG your plane before you fly! Check the manual for balance point. Remember this saying for the rest of your RC life, "A nose heavy plane flies poorly, but a tail heavy plane flies once!" (Except for 3D that is! hehe). That's my rendition of the old saying, cause I like the ring to it better.

Let us know how it goes!

Eganwp

you sir are a warrior.....talk about perserverence......that is the perfect set-up, at the perfect price, couldn't have happened to a better guy.....just goes to show that, god "does" reward people who don't throw in the towel......i had an idea???, if you are wanting to run some fuel through that motor and play with the fuel mixture adjustment in between flying lessons, you could taxi it around on the ground.....look for a safe place away from people, leave the wings "off" the plane and taxi around on the ground.....i emphasize leave the wings off the plane because if you forget to remove the wings the plane might lift off the ground and take off and then there is the possibility of hitting something or some one.....taxiing around also helps you practice reverse orientation.....i don't know if anybody has told you that as long as you are standing behind the plane, whether flying in the air or taxiing on the ground, left is left and right is right on the radio......remember that whether your in the air or on the ground, when your plane is moving towards you, your radio control inputs are reversed, left is right and right is left.....you'll learn more about this from your instructor......25 years ago when i was starting out in radio control and i showed up too early at the club field or my instructor was running late, i used to taxi around the runway just as i described to you here.....then when i was actually in the air and took over the sticks, i had an idea of what to expect when the plane veered to one side to the other.....by practicing on the ground first, i could react to the plane instinctively, instead of hesitating......if you do try this method, don't forget to take the wings off the plane.....one time, a fellow club member was attempting this method of practicing and forgot to remove his wings.....he accidentally got too much speed, the plane managed to lift off the ground, it went about 20 feet high and did a loop.....now that wasn't the bad part....just prior to this plane lifting off the ground, another fellow club member was sitting on the back of his van, fixing one of his planes and had just stood up and walked away to talk to another club member......after the plane did that 20 foot loop it turned sideway's towards the pit area and entered the guys van through the back doors, right where he had been sitting, it flew all the way's through the full-size van, about 16-18 feet and hit the front windsheild and broke it in a matter of just a few seconds......planes are fun, but they can also be dangerous in the wrong hands......6-8 pound plane going out of control, at about 40-60 mph and somebody's gonna get hurt.....just something to think about between now and your first flight.......take care......KOOLKRABBER47......

Another cleaning tip I can give is to use a microfiber polishing cloth. Paper towels smear the oil residue around, but the microfiber lifts it off. I get around 10 cleanings on mine before I have to throw it in the washer.