Turns out I ended up having to add quite a bit more to my spacer to make CG. I’ll be bonding this assembly to the firewall with thru-bolts.

Bonded the spacer to the firewall. And added triangle stock around the edges.

Sealed the wood with finishing epoxy and then dolled it up with fleck paint. Just have to bevel and hinge the ailerons and do some lightening in the tail area and then I’ll start covering.

This Rookies gonna look soo good in my shop some day. Hehe.

-Craig

Wow thats a long motor box, got to be about 120mm long? are you running bolts all the way through?

Originally Posted by carrid02

This Rookies gonna look soo good in my shop some day. Hehe.

-Craig

I think so too! Let me know when you get that Laser done and we’ll do a straight-across trade plus you give me like $1K dollars. That’s totally fair, and you get the Rookie you want. Win-win!!

Originally Posted by The Hodge

Wow thats a long motor box, got to be about 120mm long? are you running bolts all the way through?

Pretty close, Hodge! Not really what I wanted to do but it was a necessity. These things were designed for boat anchor gas engines back in the day, although even still, the wing leading edge to firewall moment looks very short to me. Had I known or thought about it, I would have added to the fuselage during the build. I special-ordered through-bolts for the task. I am going to do some lightening of the tail and rear fuselage area. But at most, I suspect I’ll only be able to remove the 3/4” DA standoffs I’ve been using with the engine, if that.

Quick pic of engine mounted with engine box completed.

The diet has begun......

Diet finished. Almost 4 ounces out of the tail. Now I just have to final sand, radius the edges, and get ready for fuselage covering.

Looking great, Nice work on the lightning job!

Originally Posted by Motomazzo

Pretty close, Hodge! Not really what I wanted to do but it was a necessity. These things were designed for boat anchor gas engines back in the day, although even still, the wing leading edge to firewall moment looks very short to me. Had I known or thought about it, I would have added to the fuselage during the build. I special-ordered through-bolts for the task. I am going to do some lightening of the tail and rear fuselage area. But at most, I suspect I’ll only be able to remove the 3/4” DA standoffs I’ve been using with the engine, if that.

Looks fine, I thought of doing same thing that with the 35% Decathlon but i only need 90mm, But ill make a motor box i think, It will be lighter and i can put the Ign and Throttle servo in it.

Thanks! I’m happy with it. I think I’m going to put the ignition module in the engine mount as well......I think. We’ll see. I’m about to strip the fuselage down and start the finish sanding. Getting closer.

Decided to add 2” wingtips to each wing. I hollowed them out to the point they were very light. It was a quick and dirty job with a hand router but it was effective in removing the excess weight. Still have a lot of sanding to go but it’s getting there. Also got both ailerons beveled and hinged today as well.

Almost forgot - I added a dorsal fin to the fuselage just for cosmetics.......and to make it harder to cover, LOL! I’ll have to add a couple pieces of wood back to the fuselage for covering support (thanks Craig) as this was an afterthought. But that’s easy enough. Another reason I enjoy building - the freedom to be creative and do what you want/ how you want.