I'm new to the sport and building planes. I'm currently building a Scorpio Java 150 and I'm a bit puzzled by how the motor should be mounted. I've built up the cradle and when I insert the sp400 motor with it's gearbox in the cradle and place it in the fuse the motor pitches down slightly. The instructions show it pitched down and horizontal. I'm leaning toward pitching it down because the nose of the fuse is angled slightly and that mounting would put the prop on the same plane as the pitch in the nose. Can anyone offer guidance?

Don't know if you'll get this since your post is a few months old. Just found it and thought I'd reply.
I too had the same issue on this model. I decided to grind down the cradle until I could put the motor/gearbox in and with the spinner temporarily on, it would match the angle of the fuse. Flies and floats nicely!