Well I just got my new kit about a week ago it came in this big box
everything was packed nice and neat in bags
the hard part is putting it back in the box the same way it came to you

Well once you pull the parts out you might as well start it so I did
I started the wheels I changed the wheels out for bigger ones I went up to 2.75 size foam wheels the others were less than 2.25 in size
they changed the axle system from a bolt / nut assembly to something like a du-bro axle system

I than proceeded to mount the wheel pants to the landing gear and mounted them to the fuselage

more pictures to come

Captin1
Take your time and do well. I can't wait to see this one fly. Actually a very nice looking plane. What are you going to power it with?

2 recomendations with this model...strengthen the undercariage mounting plate and seal the trim.

theres a big thread on this model here on rcu, have search.

i had one and loved it...apart from the trim constantly peeling off!
powered mine with a ys120.

good luck

Jaycey
What do you use to seal the plane and still looks good? Do you seal the whole plane or do you seal just the edges of the applied trim?

How did you strengthen the landing gear plate on yours

I noticed that there covering was different you can peel it off it seems like it use static to hold in place I went over it with a heat iron but we will see what happens

Hi Bob

I will take my time to get this right
the motor will be a YS 110 I have a back up of a old YS 120 that could work also
I used there motor mount system here if I will probaly change to a different mount later on

there is no manual, the only info is a 17 x 24 drawing you have to do a lot of thinking for these models

Well I started some radio installation on the wing and the fuse
it is good so far
one side of the wing was hard to fish a line threw but the side went so easy
I just couldn't hit the hole after about 10 minutes of trying I got it
I was putting in servos extension

than I started the fuse every thing is nice so far
I am trying to find a place to hide the switch

How did your plane fly lite on the sticks
how was your plane on the take off roll
how was the landings
did you mix the aileron with flaps

Thanks Tim

I have been working on the wing getting ready to install the Aluminium joiner 6 x 50 mm
I have epoxy the alunminium joiners in the front of the wing
They also use a nice plastic system for the aluminium joiner to go into
and the rear part of the wing gets 4 x 40 mm bolts threw a plywoood plate for the hold down on the wing

Well I just found a problem with mounting the wing
if you use their system the wing will not sit correctly in the wing saddle just by the the thickes of the plastic
support they are using
it is only a 3 to 4 mm
I think they have their drawing showing it going in the wrong way

I am just trying a test of the fuel system to see how things will go in and be mounted
I will be running 3 different color lines just to keep things easy
the Blue will be fuel
the Orange will be pressure
the Green will the fill line

I found out how strong the carbon fiber tunnel is
I put the former in the back of the tunnel for the 6 x 50 mm aluminium joiners pieces
I still have some more work here

I found the wing hold down problem the drawing shows it in wrong direction
it works that way
but that couple of mm on the flange part makes a big difference
The first picture is what they showed you to do
The second picture is the way I got it to work
The black marks is what I used to line the holes up it will come off with a little cleaner

Hi - I have one of these planes. Flew it for a year in the novice category with an OS91FX and tuned pipe.

Definitely agree with strengthening the landing gear area - well we in south africa actually ended up swopping the carbon landing gear for aluminium and also increasing the size of the wheels - we flew off bumpy grass, old rubber conveyor belt, tarmac and cement runways around the country - because the slightest wrong landing and they split through!!! It's kinda fast on landing so learn to slow up and glide/flare it a long ways out. And with the airbus using up all carbon stock!!! it costs plenty to replace :-(

Also the covering is crap!!! it comes off very easy - in fact mine started coming off on the maiden flight - flapped so loud I thought the whole plane was coming appart!!! I totally stripped my plane and covered it with glass cloth and spray painted it. This was my first ever try at doing this and learned a lot about EXTRA weight!!! or rather that it's best not to have it....

Other than that it flies fantastic, looks good and with the right hands will challenge the F3a guys!!!

Good luck and enjoy the bird - it's a goodie :-)

Should I use carbon fiber or triangle stock to reinforce the landing gear area
I will change the landing gear to aluminiun that should be know problem to do
on landing approach it sounds like it wants to an airliner approach

thanks Tim

The covering has been a problem on a lot of the CMP planes. We have giles that is getting recovered right now for that reason. Their covering sucks.
The planes are built pretty well though. They are straight. They tend to be a little heavier than they could be.

This is so true
I was trying to seal the trim down and I could pull the trim of without even trying hard
it seems like there is no glue on their covering
They use lower standards on their stuff

I am still waitng to get my header pipe for my YS than I have to install it
I have to work on the carbonfiber tunnel also

I going to fly the small Zen today just for fun
it is to nice of a day or weeked to waste on building now

I'm going flying

I just got back to working on the Leo

I just couldn't pass up this weather that we were having, high pressure system with very little winds 5 to 7 mph and light and variable direction
I was trying an experiment with a couple of engines on the zen and found some interesting info

I was doing some flying on my little Zen 30 and having some fun with it before it crashed and bit the big one
and I was doing some thes flying for some of our club members a nice EAA Biplane with a inverted OS 91 fs on the front
after a few flites we felt pretty happy with Oh yeah Back to the forgotten plane

Leo I started to install the nylon hinges but the first I did was to put a center line on the hinges just for reference
Than I used a big pin to put a centering hole and I will pin the hinge later
I also made sure to do this from the bottom of the control surface

I almost forgot while I was doing my hinge marking I found I was one short no problem
I will will get some mylar hinge material to make one

I did a trial fit early on of the fuel tank and it worked out pretty good
now it is time to install the lines and plumbing

I looked at the 3 aluminum fuel line pieces they sent with the kit the, the smaller two would be fine for the pressure and fill line
the last larger piece was to be the main line to the carb
It will changed for a standard brass 1/8 diameter tube I also changed the clunk to a brass one
the orginal lines were just to small to feed the carb
I also bent the pressure line and the fill line up
I will put the check valve in later
The fuel tank was designed for this plane it will hold 470 cc of fuel
and will fit into a specific spot in the former over the cg line
now all I have to do is put the blue fuel line to carb and the orange to the pressure and the green line hooked to fill line
I like using different colore lines to keep things seperated

Well just got done installing the fuel tank and fuel lines system

Now another problem has come up
How to hold down the fuel tank
I only have maybe 3 mm to play with before I hit the wing saddle
Do I make it perminent silcone
or do I put some kind of strap system in place rubber bands or hook @ loop
That is the question

I installed the wing bolt today
The old carpenter phrase come into play here always measure twice and cut once or my case drill just once
I aligned the wing up measured from the tips to the back of fuselage actually I did this about five times to make sure it was correct
I used tape for marking
Than I drilled it and installed the blind nuts

I still have a few more things to do Like glue the stab on but before I do that I have to clean my bench so I can block up the tail to make sure it is square with every thing else
Than I must check out the wing saddle to make sure the wing is level
I have to install a fuel dot system
I have to install pushrods and all hardware on all the surfaces
I still have to install the header system

I just installed the tail bracket today
It is not the best setup that there is but it came with the kit so I will use it

I got my heavy duty Adjustable control horn set from DU-BRO
I changed from what the kit manufacture sent, that plastic stuff that is okay for smaller models
I first laid out some green tape for marking purpose I laid a piece of wire there to get basic line up than I put part of the control horn assembly as a reference point started to measure everything
I had to make sure when drilling the hole it was at a right angle to the center line of the control surface
I used a couple of clamps to hold the aileron steady

always measure twice and cut once

I just hooked up the throttle servo today it wasn't to bad
I had to bend the pushrod a bit it is a little tight with part of the cowling on
but the header pipe might be a problem I don't have that ready yet to install

I just got done hooking up the elevator pushrod
I have been doing more measuring on this plane
If I only have to make a few clicks on the trim that will be great
I laid out the pushrod on the bottom of the fusealage taped it down after I measured it
I still don't have the elevator glued in yet
this will be one of the last things done