7 boxes arrived today! They contain the contents required to build a Carden Pro 300S 120". This is the single cockpit updated version of the 330S. This project will have a DA 150 (not sure if I want first gen or the lightened version depending on the nose weight required to find balance). I will also be attempting the wooden cowl and wheel pants as seen by Mark B! I will not be fiberglassing the hatch. I don't plan on painting anything but inside the cowl, landing hear and gear cuffs.

Most of my build will be stock including the ailerons. I'm choosing the DA 150 for the ease of use. I just want to show up to the field, flip and fly to practice IMAC.

Covering will be Monokote. Electronics will be Futaba.

I'm building this project with my grandfather Lowell. He is the reason I ever got into this hobby almost 30 years ago! We are very excited!

First step for us is inspecting the beautifully packed kit and WOW! This is one amazing kit. Thank you Dennis for being so helpful.
I'll be starting preparation of the sheeting for all components and Grampa will be starting on the fuselage fittings. I will post as much as possible but with a full time job, kids and a beautiful fiance life can get in the way.... and I need to go flying; as soon as mud season lets up here in the north woods.

You will enjoy the building

Looking forward to the new build , Josh !!

Makes me want to start another! Good luck

This may seem like a no-brainer but we took setting up the table very seriously and wanted to share. The building table was built using the straightest 2x4's we could find doubled up for the rails and stiles. Two sheets of mdf were cut 34"x97". The bottom one was screwed and glued. The top is "floated" to shim for perfect.

I found a dead straight piece of 2"x3"x8' aluminum square tubing. I had it tested at the metal shop for as near perfect straight as we I could find. Had to cull the piece out of a 24' section. The guys in the shop were really patient and didn't charge me for the whole thing! Cost $55 and was straighter than the $300 levels they sell. Got lucky!

We floated the table for flat today using machinist feeler gauges and came within .003+- over 8ft both over length, width and diagonal. I think this is good enough for a wooden structure. We could spend days making it perfect. We will leave it to settle tonight and check it again tomorrow afternoon and probably again later in the week. Had some sections with .032 shims which is a lot shows how precise you need to be or build your plane CATAWAMPAS!! [Mainer USA Term: Definition of catawampus. 1 dialectal : fierce, savage, destructive. 2 dialectal : askew, awry, cater-cornered. ] Hehe!

Tomorrow morning I will start the sheeting for the longerons/fuselage sides. Still hasn't sunk in that we're building a 40% Carden. I will commence to panic soon....

Sounds like you're ready!

We are ready to go Steve!

I got up really early this morning to get a start on the build.

I started by preparing the fuse side sheeting and splicing the longerons. Made great progress. Used Titebond 2 for all the gluing. I haven't created balsa sheeting in about 15 years but it came back pretty quick.

I decided to build the fuse sides using a hybrid technique of Mark's. We cut the fuse sheeting to size with a little bit of overage to sand down later. We also left the length a bit longer and we will be cutting some width off F2 so we have no ply end grain by the cowling. It will make a very strong overlap butt joint. More pics when we get to fitting the fuse sides to the motor box about this mod.

Sanded the fuse sheeting that will display on the inside. Will be our last chance before installing the vertical supports, bass supports and horizontal balsa supports for the tail, mid fuse. Studying all of you guy's builds for the last year has really paid off! I think I have every part of this airplane in my head already. Very cool!

Marked all fuse side supports with a spade scratch (??). It makes a slight impression on the wood but leaves no marking after pieces have been glued. Trying to keep everything as clean and marking free as possible.

We will set the top longeron and build down if this makes sense. We will use the 3/8"x 6 1/4" as spacers to set the bottom longeron and fill in the pieces. Will use a hand plane to shave off extra fuse sheeting width after side is finished. This will give us a chance to hit our numbers and make an absolutely dead nuts straight longeron for incidence. So far everything is coming out nice, square and straight.

Got some work done today. Mocked up the motor box fittings. Also completed the fuselage side build. Just need to sand them up a bit. Here is the mod on former F-2. Creating an overlap to eliminate plywood end grain.

Wow, that is a nice touch to overlap the side.

Thanks! I think it will work out.

A couple more pics of the fuselage sides. One still needs sanding/leveling. We will start to glue the motorbox tonight.

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We started the motorbox tonight! Lowell drilled a bunch of 1/16" depressions for better surface area and adhesion. I cut all the oak and balsa rails to size. By the end of the night we had the rails glued. We are using 30 min epoxy for everything in the motorbox area.

If you're using a DA-150, just always always always be keeping weight in mind. Don't add in unnecessary 'bling' or material during building. One thing Dennis' airplanes have never been in need of is extra strength. I've personally had 7 Carden airplanes over the years, 4 of which had over 1500 flights on them when I sold them. Tuny is currently building one of these for me with a DA-200L in it.. Can't wait!

I've decided to not go forth with the F-2 mod. Dennis brought to my attention that there will still be some end grain of the plywood former to peak through once I sand the sides down to contour. Being my first Carden build I will stick completely to stock.

Does anybody with experience having installed the DA 150 in this air frame have any balance tips. I.E.... did it require nose weight after the build while having the batteries all the way forward? Still trying to determine if the 150L or the first gen 150 will be needed for a little added weight. I'm also in the market for a new charger for Li-Ion packs. Any suggestions for a decent "at home" charger?

Started to glue the motor box together tonight. This is harder than I thought. Going to proceed in sections. Should be ready for the fuse layup this weekend. Lowell will have fun putting in the cross bracing and I will leave the fuse in his capable hands to start preparing sheeting with Titebond 2. Getting all the sheeting prepared will put us in very good shape! Might even start sheeting the belly pan by Sunday evening.

Batteries should end up somewhere around the wing tube, maybe further forward with the 150L.