ok guys, interesting day today. I ran the engine for about 1.5 hours in my backyard to try to get it to break in a little bit, and I felt fairly confident with the motor. Took her out to the field and started it right up, so I felt it was time. Well, I took off and immediately the engine sputtered and quit. Now our field has a nice little pond off of the runway, and of course the plane managed to find it. Even more surprising was that it managed to avoid 2 very large trees and did not have a single scratch on it. I literally dumped out the water, dried the entire plane off, and tested my electronics. Thank god everything worked after its bath. So I was messing around with the plane after drying everything off, and the engine would not stay running unless the choke was on and it had more than half a tank of fuel, which of course meant there was some kind of fuel flow problem. I took out the fuel tank and sure enough, the fuel tubing attatched to the clunk managed to come off of the brass stopper fitting and was floating in the tank. With the help of 3 guys at my field, we managed to get everything put back together. Amazingly enough, the engine started purring perfectly and everything was coming together. I decided to go for it and maiden the plane while everything was working. This of course was after about 2 hours of running the engine until I was comfortable enough with the throttle response and idol. I took the plane off, and it flew AMAZINGLY! The plane was extremely stable in the 10-15 mph winds, and the engine....oh my god. You can not imagine how much power this thing has. I dont have an accurate way to weigh the plane currently, but it seems about 17 lbs. On a xoar 23x8, it was registering about 2200 rpm on a somewhat high idol and 6900-7100 rpm on the top end. Remember this engine only has about 3 hours of run time max. The engine will only become more powerful as I run it more. The vertical was unbelievable! The thing went out of sight with a stupid amount of authority at half throttle. This engine will easily swing a 24x8 as it breaks in. Overall I am extremely impressed with this plane!

The build looks great!

Have you had a chance to ring the plane out? I'm really interested in how it handles in harrier and knife edge.

I have not. I was going to start to push it last night, but I noticed a tail wag. It turns out that I left the pull pull fittings on the rudder that were meant for steel cable, and I used the sullivan kevlar. Well, one of the cables sliced right off. So now I need to find some steel cable and fix her up, then she will be good. Also, I am still fooling with my throttle curve to get the throttle on the stick where I want it. Trust me, she is going to be a great plane. 17# with 6.5 horsepower. OH YEAH!

Got a chance at my club fun fly to somewhat test her out a little more in depth. she hovers like non-other. Almost hands off! it is the easiest plane I have ever hovered. inverted flight it was right at home with. that was hands off as well! I started doing a little bit of harriering. it did have a little wing rock, but it floated great. The plane does need a little throttle while landing, but i could not be happier with this plane! it is absolutely fantastic!

Hi ...

I have question on 3W USCS Engine. I bought a new engine and today I was trying to install it on the test bench for the break in. Everything went fine except when I tried to insert the last engine mounting screw bolt, the one that is towards the Carb. This perticular screw does not go in the engine mounting hole because there is not enough space for the screw head. The engine mounting screw holes are 5.5mm and I am using 5x70mm allen head screws. The screw bolt head starts touching the Engine Head (which in my case is red) and the crank case. I tried pushing it in and ended up scratching both the engine head and the crank case but still the bolt refused to go it!!! :-(

What screw bolt size did you use to bolt this engine? how did you get around this probem? or come to think of it did you face this problem?

I did run into that problem, but i was using 5mm bolts i believe. I had to do that bolt first, and put it through while it is not on the mounting surface, in your case the test stand. You have to be careful and get it exactly straight into the hole, or it will not go in, it will rub against those parts. Just be careful and patient and it will go through, and do not try and force it. when it is right, it will not be hard to put in. but if it gets the slightest bit crooked, it will not go through and scuff up the pretty red coated cylinder cooling head. i originally left that screw to be the last one in and i had to take the other 3 off to get it in easily. just try that and if it still doesnt work let me know and I will figure something out for you

Just put the bolt through from the back of the firewall and use a lock nut on the front of the mounting tabs on the motor. Use a bolt just as long as needed so it doesn't reach the obstruction.