Here it is! A very nice, but typical, Great Planes 4 color box $$.

Look at all the info on the box.

The other side is loaded as well!

The top is off. Everything is bagged and taped into place inside the box. Very little chance for damage here. Good job Great Planes.

The instruction manual and decal set in their bag.

OK, let's get going. Get the manual out and browse through it . Get familar with everything. Typical Great Planes manual, very comprehensive, very good.

Lets pull the tape and see what we have!

Horizontal stab parts

There's the top wing. Ailerons are taped in place, all in a protective bag.

There's the fuse under a card board separator.

Lookin good!

Metal cabanes, landing gear struts and wing struts. All, painted and packged.

More accessories, including a pilot and louvered fuse sides.

Let's get started. Remove the top wing, stab and rudder from their bags.

Check the covering for wrinkles. This kit had none.

Remove the tape holding the various services on. I wish the Chinese would use a low tack tape in this application. The tape they use will pull the covering up and leaves a residue.

Find the bag containing the hinges

The Hinges are small and need to be separated with a knife.

Put a pin in the center of each hinge.

Insert the hinge into the surface up to the pin. This centers the hinge.

Now, slide the hinges into the wing. Carefully, so they don't rotate.

Push the aileron in tight against the pins.

Pull the pins out.

Put 3 drops of thin CYA on each hinge. Make sure you keep the gap to a minimum.

The Ailerons are hinged.

OOPS! What happened here Great Planes?

Now , insert the leading edge dowels into the bottom wing.

Get the fuse ready.

You have to remove the covering from the top of the stab openning.

Test fit the wing.

Screw holes, and blind nuts are already installed. It fit perfectly! The hole behind the screws is the air outlet for cooling.

Perfect fit!

Mark the center of the horizontal stab.

Use your favorite method to align the stab with the wing. The instructions show you how to do this using a string, which will work very well.

When satisfied clamp it down so it doesn't move.

From the bottom, mark the fuse position on both sides of the stab.

You need to remove the covering where it contacts the fuse to ensure a good glue bond. You want wood to wood. I use a straight edge and a 25 watt soldering iron. The pins hold the straight edge in position while you gently run the hot iron down the line. The iron will burn the covering away.

Here you are!

Now, glue the stab to the fuse. Make sure it is horizontaly aligned with the wing

Now, insert the vertical fin tabs in place, and make sure it is square.

It's starting to look like a Fokker.

Hinge the elevator and rudder the same as the ailerons.

Now hinge the rudder.

The kit comes with a pilot. You have to glue it together and paint it. It's in 2 pieces, but Great Planes has molded into the plastic, alignment nipples to help glue it together and get the 2 halves aligned. A very good idea!!

Just another view, Look closely around the perimeter of the figure and you can see the tabs.

A better view.

Perfectly aligned.

JUst glue it together

Enough already.

We are close to installing the motor. This is the one they recommend.

THis is the receiver I will be using. Very tiny.

I'm going to try Futaba servos. Again, very small. I do have a complaint with Futaba about these sevos. They have no accessories. Only 1 extra output arm, no screws or anything else. And the pigtail is too short.

Glue the control horn into the pre cut slot and slide the pushrod into the pre installed sleeve.

Do the same for the rudder.

Mount the EZ connectors on the servo arms

Slide the pushrod through the EZ connector and drop the servos in place. How about that, The Futaba servos fit perfectly. The servo rails are already installed.

Installing the motor is next, but first I had to solder on the 3.5mm bullet connectors

Now, you have to install their special mount onto the motor. It requires 3m X 6m bolts. They were included in the SE5A kit, but not in this one. So, drop everything and run to the hobby shop.

Installing the motor with its mount, 3 standoffs , 3 bolts and 9 washers almost requires 3 hands and small monkey to help. But be patient and you will get it in. PS: i really don't like this installation. It's a pain, plus I see it being a maintenance problem, always coming loose and needing adjusting, but that's just my opinion.

Finally!

Now to the wing again. It's time to pull the servo leads through the wing, but do it in focus.

That little tiny hole is where we are headed!

Whenyou get the lead through, screw the hatch back on. By the way, I forgot to show it, but the servo is glued to the back of the hatch. They suggest CYA, but I prefer hot melt glue.

With the servos installed, we turn our attention to the bottom wing and the N struts. Tabs are slipped into pre cut slots in the wing and the metal, 1 piece N strut is screwed to the tab. Very easy and everything fit perfectly

What happened to my focus? this is the inside view.

The cabanes are srewed to pre drilled holes in the fuse side. Again a perfect fit.

Then the fuse is attached to the upper wing

Ah, here's my focus, actually I turned the flash back on. This is attaching the rear cabane.

Here's what it looks like with the upper wing and all the attachment points

Reinstall the lower wing

Align and attach the N struts to the mounting tabs in the upper wing.

They just screw on, it is very tight !

Now we put the landing gear together. The threaded rod goes through the 2 landing gear pieces and the 3rd wing.

No flash again, It just screws on.

I installed a piece of wood here to keep the trailing edge of the wing from deforming when the bolts are tightened.

Screw the lower hatch back on

Put the bolts back in the wing

More N strut work

Screw the landing gear on.

Slide the wheels on the axle

Holkd them with a washer and nut. Secure with a drop of CYA.

It's starting to look like and airplane. Notice the hole for the aileron wire.

The cowl really dresses it up. At this point I am concerned about the cowl and the upper battry hatch. The battery hatch is held on with magnets. to get it off you have to raise it up and slide it back. This puts pressure on the top of the plastic cowl. I and afraid it will split out.

Tape the antenna to the fuse bottom

Weight is 1lb 5.9 oz

On the tarmac ready to go

good looking

I haven't painted the pilot yet

pretty from all angles

Still needs a pilot ! Post Script: The aircraft flew off the board beautifully. No problems. Test flights were in a 5-6 mph wind, it handled it very well. I'm very happy with the flying chracteristics. Test flight will be posted on the video page.

Unfortunately, the cowl split on the first hatch removal.