Djay

Dont forget to fuel proof the engine bay thoroughly. I also cut a slot in the bottom about 1/4 inch wide and 2 inch long , right at the bottom, put a small lip on it at the fwd outside edge, and this causes a small suction which pulls all the oil and fumes out so they do not collect in the bottom. . less typing, more building, so we can se it fly.

At the end of the day it does not really matter, if you are happy with it then that is the main thing. The model looks just as good either way. Enjoy it Darryl

Andy, the cheeks are fitted as you originally had them, that is why Flair put the cut lines in the mouldings. before cutting any plastic parts out, Just lay the plastic vac moulding over a sheet of wet and dry and rub it in circles, the base will come away and leave you with a flat straight edge on the moulded part.  Good luck with the rest of the build. Darryl

Hi carl. No that is an outrunner, you need an inrunner which looks the same as the brushed motor you have fitted, try this one, http://www.horizonhobby.com/Products/Default.aspx?ProdID=EFLM1010 It is a 370 not a 300, but check the dimensions, should be perfect for you. Donnt forget to replace the ESC as well, use a 800 -900 3 cell LIPO. Darryl

Dont worry Andy, your tail will not fall off, you may get elevator flutter at high speed, but you will hear that, and just slow down. Alow the momentem of the model to fly big turns, dont yank the elevator and she will fly beautifully. Be careful of the silicon pipe, make sure you have good access to it, and good airflow over it, as it does get hot and will split. But most of all donnt worry, it will fly a treat. Darryl

Used the resize tool, well impressive . so no stopping me uploading pics now (hopefully) here is my D7, showing the plastic engine before painting. showing the cut out on the right inner fuse side, to allow me to lift the engine in and out with the exhaust fitted, pointing straight down, (the black area in front of the cowl, which is fuel proof paint)

Thanks for the info Danny about pic resizing, I will have a look at that. John, sorry , dont carry the flight box any more, reverse the car into the pits, pull up a bench and fly from there. Work interferes big time with my flying and building. Just built the Flair hannibal, and I have the Pupetter as well to go with my D7 Regarding soldering the nuts to the attatchment points, clean the flat plate well, clean the nut, then put oil on one of the bolts and pass the bolt through the plate into the nut, and tighten down. A good soldering iron, or micro blowtorch, will heat it up enough and then apply the solder around the nut. when cool unscrew the bolt.  Fix the plates to the ribs before you cover, as they are recessed into the rib, loads of slow curing epoxy, and I put a ply plate over the metal plate to sandwich it in place, and they are still solid after all these years. make sure you get them the correct side of the ribs,, dependant on left or right side. Darryl

e flight park 300 motor goes straight on to the gearbox. Mine takes off in less then 1 inch and goes vertical on half throttle. real fun to fly, no other mods, completelt standard other then the motor and 900 3 cell lipo, even standard prop still fitted, , 5 years old, battered and bent, but still flys, even in strong winds. Will definetly get another if this one finally dies. Darryl

Sorry Andy, my pics are to big to upload, if you send me an email address I can send you some if you want. Darryl

Hi Andy, Greetings from sunny Dubai. I Have just found your blog, which is a shame as I could have helped you a lot. I built my D7 about 5 years ago, powered by an ASP70 FS engine and it is the best flyer I have, it is so gentle and smooth yet performs aerobatics with ease. And i still fly it every week. For the exhaust problem, get a 90 degree header from just engines and have the silencer pointing straight down exiting through the floor with a small piece of silicon pipe. Power loss is not an issue with this size engine in this plane, believe me. To get the engine in with the silencer on, just cut a small piece away on the inner fuse side in the engine bay, and make a small hatch to cover it, screwed from the front and top. I mounted my Flair engine on a sheet of wood as a base bigger then the plastic, and cut away the front cylinder to fit around the engine cylinder head, allowing for glow plug access, and screwed the base down to the rear of the engine bay, It looks good. The top wing needs two servos, just put hard wood formers in the bays and screw them in, with a ply hatch as a cover with a slot for the pushrods and servo arms to protrude, you cannot see them as they are under the top wing, have the two servo leads joined in the centre with a y lead hanging out, then on the fuselage get a plastic charging lead holder from your LHS and glue it into the cockpit upper surface, plug an extension lead into this and take that to your receiver, then all you have to do is plug the y lead from the top wing into this when you assemble the aircraft, and unplug it to remove the wing. I made my metal main struts with turnbuckles soldered in halfway down then when the wings were on I measured the trailing and leading edges at various points to get them level, then locked the turnbuckles in place. You will have no cooling issues with the engine in this cowl, mine is fantastic with the 70 size engine, low speed manouveres are brilliant, no fear of stalling or dropping out the sky, and big high powered wing overs are amazing. I fly in 50 degrees centigrade and have no cooling issues. Unfortunatly it is to late for you, but you need to reinforce every joint on all the tailplane surfaces, incl rudder and elevator,  with a small fillet, as they come loose and break easily, especially in flight, and you get a lot of flutter. I have sheeted the whole horizontal stab underneath with thin balsa to stop this as it kept happening, but it is one tough old bird and flys no matter what. I moved here to Dubai nearly 2 years ago and I can fky 360 days a year at a purpose built flying site, and out of 20 aircraft I  have tghis one goes with me every week. Email me or PM me if you need any more help at  [email protected].  will try and upload some pics of mine soon. Good luck Darryl