There are only 3 pages of typewritten instructions with no illustrations and one page of plans provided with this kit. I would only recommend this kit for experienced modelers who have built several non-ARF kits already. Much of the construction details are left up to the imagination of the builder.
The kit was designed for two .19-.25 sleeve-bearing engines. I chose two OS .25 FX engines and found it quite difficult to squeeze them into the nacelles. In order for the engines to be removable I had to cut part of front and top of nacelle out and attach these pieces to the side panel that is removable. I also added removable hatches under the engine and for access to the fuel tank and throttle servos. I chose to use separate throttle servos that are connected to channels 6 and 7 of the receiver. I use the programmable mix to slave channels 6 and 7 to channel 3. This enables independent control for adjusting both idle and high-end adjustments allowing me to tune the engines with a tachometer before each flight. I also like to mix by engines into my rudder control for differential thrust to help prevent steering problems if one engine accelerates faster than the other does.
Alignment of the stab is not well designed and the use of a Robart Incidence meter is recommended. The fuselage side panels are not notched into the formers but must be aligned by sighting the location over the plans. In addition, the stab mounting surface is relatively small and therefore it is also difficult to ensure the stab is level.
There are no guidelines for sheeting the fuselage, so the builder needs to have experience with moistening, bending, cutting and gluing wet balsa to shape. The kit did not include 5 pieces of 1/4 x 1/8 x 24" hardwood required for aligning the formers of the fuselage.
The nose of the fuselage was designed like an inverted shovel and I chose to modify it to look like the nose of an AeroCommander. This required modifying several of the formers and creating some new surfaces around the windshield. The kit did not include a canopy or any window material so I used some plastic from a report cover and cut pieces to fit. I used Foremost canopy trim to mount the side windows, but found this difficult to make secure and question how long they will last in flight.
I chose a combination of paint and monocote for the finish. The fuselage and nacelles are painted, but the wing is monocoted. This allowed me to eliminate some of the wing sheeting where the monocote will be covering the open bays.
There was no pilot, cockpit or dashboard included in the kit. I purchased a dashboard for a Piper Cub that fit nicely and a 1/6-scale old-timer pilot. The pilot is slightly large for what should be a six-seat plane, but looks great. I made a number of modifications to the pilot, adding "Vulcan" ears (Star Trek Fan), a baseball cap, feet (figure stopped at ankles), and fur collar and wrist bands. I also made a miniature replica of my Palomar Flyers membership card and hung it from the back of the pilot's cap. In the cockpit you will find miniature snacks, magazines and a copy of the Palomar Flyers Transmitter newsletter.
Instead of making a traditional yoke for controlling the plane, I made a miniature radio control transmitter and placed that in the pilot's hands. The frequency tag on the transmitter antennae is the frequency I will be using to fly the plane.
After all preflight checks and tuning the engines for the same idle rpm and high end rpm, I taxied out on the runway and tried a slow acceleration down the runway. The model swerved off the left side of the runway so I cut power and taxied back. On the second attempt I tried compensating earlier with full right rudder but again swerved off the left side of the runway. At this point I shut down the engines and rechecked the nosewheel taxi by giving the plane a push. A slight drift to the right indicated it must be the engines revving up at different rates. I restarted the engines, rechecked their rpm's and activated my differential thrust coupling to the rudder channel. This did the trick and I was now able to hold the plane on the center of the runway with some right rudder. Once airborne the model required only a couple of minor trims to fly hands off. The first thing I was surprised by was the speed of this twin .25. I didn't expect it to be so fast with the bulky fuselage, but this thing could probably keep up with my Great Planes F15. Loops are smooth and rolls are fast. The model looks very scale in the air, and the sound of two engines in synch is great. Landings are a little tricky as the 8 lb model seems to drop rather quickly with the engines at idle. On the second flight I switched from 10-4 props to 10-6 props and this helped a little but it still needs some throttle to avoid dropping too hard on the runway. Overall a success, and a fun plane to fly.