Just got a new kit for Christmas Valueplanes 1/4 scale SE5a. The price for this kit was reasonable but when I opened the kit to inspect the parts the one thing I noticed was the instruction booklet was missing. On the box the list of included parts was a instruction manual! I emailed the company, in China, they sent me a link to download the missing manual! I don't know if this is their standard way of offering up manuals but I was not impressed. Been told that this is not a top notch company like Balsa USA but I thought I would give it a try. This kit is designed for electric power systems but apparently can be flown with gas engine too. So I was wondering what size engine would be appropriate for this size plane. I've heard 30cc to 40cc even a Zenoah G26. It's a little confusing to know what would be the right fit for this type of biplane. I like scale flight but I hope that doesn't limit my options. Any suggestions would sure help.

I would not expect the level of customer support that you would get from BUSA but I've seen people reporting on a few builds of Valueplanes stuff. It seems like it will probably build in to a flyable airplane. A downloaded copy of the manual is probably the best you are going to get. Regarding the engine. A 25-26 cc engine will work okay for lighter planes like the Sopwiths and Nieuports but the larger and heavier Fokker DVII, Spad 13 and the SE5a tend to do better with G-38s and larger. If you go with a gas engine i would suggest paying a lot of attention to tying the firewall to the rest of the fuselage structure.

Yeah I have seen a few firewalls pull off airplanes that are low glue ARF construction. We used to stand them on the nose when we got them, and let epoxy seep down inside the front fuse..into the firewall joints.Never hurts to check the glue in the landing gear block areas either