I've been making steady progress, but Ihave been leaving the camera in the workshop. Here are some pictures of the wing. Ithink Iwill leave the leading edge un-sheeted.

Here is the horizontal stab. This was my first time doing a sandwich frame like this. It is really strong and light.

Here are the fuse sides ready to cut. I'll probably finish the wing first. Ihave to make the aileronservo trays, sheet the center, and attach the wingtips. Ialso have the ailerons and elevator ready for scalloping.

Iswung by Lowe's today and picked up a small drum sander for my drill press. Within 15 minutes of arriving home, I have completed my first scallops.

very nice Mclina!  its looking great!

Here is some progress on the wing. The aileron scallops were easy to cut using the drum sander.

Iadded some tri-stock in between the braces on the wingtips to strengthen them a bit. Ialso glued a piece of dowel into the center section of the wing, where the building pins were located. You can see the plywood plate that will reinforce the bolt holes.

Istill need to build the servo supports and the gizmo that holds down the front of the wing. Iam going to wait until the fuse is partially assembled to fit that together.

Here is how Ihave been doing aileron servo trays for my last few builds. Ijust cut a piece of 3/32" ply to fit between the ribs, drill two, 3/4" holes, and file until the servo fits in the hole.

Mclina, looking good so far. I would probably strengthen the servo plate to rib joint with some triangular stock to be on the safe side. Otherwise itlooks to be coming together well. The end result will be well worth the effort!
Chris....UK.

Thanks Chris. I had the same thought. I will add some tri-stock underneath the trays.

Ihave begun work on the fuselage. It goes together pretty quickly, although the formers on my plan were mostly the wrong sizes. Imade F-2 out of 1/4" ply to accept the wing tab and to add some strength to the landing gear mount. Iam going to make it a taildragger, so the LGmount will go right in front of F-2.

Ialso added some balsa wing saddle doublers.

Tha tank size on my plan was 12 to 16 ounces. Iscaled down to 75% and figured I could fit an 8 ounce tank, but the 8 oz Dubro Ihave will not fit. I'll either have to find a shorter 8 oz tank or go with a 6 oz.

More fuselage progress. SInce this photo, I have added tri-stock behind the firewall and added a plywood doubler to the back of the tank floor where the main landing gear will attach.

Iam going to copy the landing gear from my GPDazzler. It is just bent 5/32" wire, and it has worked great on the Dazzler, which should be about the same weight as this.

This is the first test fit of the wing. The saddle is a pretty good fit. Iam going to make up some kind of tab below the LEof the wing to key into F-2. Iwill probably laminate two L shaped pieces of 1/8" ply on either side of the center ribs, with a spacer in the middle toaccount for the rib thickness.

Iam waiting toinstall the rear pushrod tubes before Iclose up the top of the fuse.

My hats off to you Mclina!   very awesome!

Thanks Draftman. Ineed all the encouragement I can get.

Here's what's gonna hold on the front of the wing. Ishaped a piece of 1/4" ply to fit the rib curve, then sandwiched it between two peices of 1/8" ply. I'll file it to shape to match the cutout in F-2 once the glue dries.

And while my glue was drying, I went ahead and bent the landing gear. Itook the measurements directly from my Dazzler. It's a piece of 5/32" music wire, 20" long. I'll attach it to the fuse using plastic landing gear straps and wood screws, just like on the Dazzler.

Ionly grabbed the hot wire with my bare hand once.

For some reason, Ireally hate building servo trays. It's probably because I don't have a vise, and I have to hold the piece with one hand and file with the other. My hand is usually killing me by the time I'm done.

Iinstalled the outer pushrod tubes in the rear of the fuse, so I can now close up the top. Ihad to glue the vertical stab into place first, because the fuse top is cut around it. Ialso hinged and beveled the rudder.

Ihinged and beveled the elevator, and then I taped on the ailerons for a photo. The fun part of the build is almost over and then it's just assembling and covering.

Judging by the pile of leftover wood, I'd say Ioverbought for this build. The pile looks bigger than the one Istarted with.

And here's a shot of the rear of the fuse after Itrimmed and sanded the top and the pushrod tubes.

I feel the same way. Seems like when you buy an ARF, it's like they left the worst parts of the build for you to do!

Ihave attached the landing gear and engine mount, and Istuck my spare .46LA on it as a test fit. It appears that it will be massively nose heavy with this engine.

Idid some figuring, and the toal weight of the airframe and .46LAis about 35 ounces. This will result in a plane of easily less than three pounds with radio and covering. In addition to the .46LA, I also have a spare .25LA and .25FX. Ihave flown 3 pound SPADs with the .25LA, and my 3 pound Derelict can fly vertical with a .25FX. For an easy flyer, Iam considering using the .25LAfor this plane.

I'll wait until it is complete before drilling the engine mount. I'll see what the final weight is and how it balances before I decide. The throttle cable will go in the same location regardless.

I'm at the point whereIjust go down and fiddle for 15 minutes a day, so progress is not dramatic. Ihave drilled and tapped the wing bolt holes, glued on the horizontal stab, and bent a fixed tail skid. Iadded an 1/8"plywood plate to the bottom of the stab to reinforce the tail skid.

Ifly off grass, and have found that fixed wire skids work fine for me.

Here's the final stance with the main gear and tail skid installed, and the wing bolted on. Istill need to hinge the ailerons, that will be my next task.

Ihave set the .25LA on it, and it looks like a good fit. It will be well under 3 pounds with that engine and it should fly itjust fine.

That seems like a good first scratch build I've only been in the hobby for going on 2 years and haven't built any kits yet and I'm trying to get all my patterns ready to build a 1/5 scale F4F Wildcat from Jerry Bates plans so we'll see.