Most prefab-ed ARF I've seen. Hinging was easy... all pre-drilled for Robarts... and Robarts are included! Just glue them in. I use Teflon lube on the knuckle and then 30min Z-POXY shot in with a syringe. Nothing to it... bombproof. Oh, I setup a 3/32 gap for major throw-age with no binding. Next I mounted the motor... Tom has a great idea for this that I'm embarrassed I didn't think of a long time ago myself! Take a look:

I held the motor up against the firewall with one hand and then kept it there temporarily by screwing down the scrap of plywood to it with the other hand. One little drywall screw and this thing was really solid for our purposes. This is very easy, and once you've gotten this far... you just check the motor position with the cowl... taking the cowl on and off a couple of times... loosening the drywall screw just a tad to shift things around... and then tighten it back up when she's perfect!

I then turned my attention towards the rudder setup... stock is all setup for two servos in the tail or one jumbo on a pull/pull. Exit holes cut and everything... could be done in a snap. But, I wanted more power!!!! So I had to come up with a way to mount my servo tray. The manual shows leaving the existing ply tray in position (using it for the RXs, etc.) and using some provided rails just aft to position a new tray. I opted to "chain it in!" as we used to say when we were framing contractors! TIP: 1) put thick paper towels down in the bottom of the fuse if you're using any kind of glue or thread locker. 2) Use an xacto to hold pieces of wood you're gluing in to minimize the glue-iging of the finguhs. 

Hitec 5945 digital servos installed and programmed with the Hitec Programmer... All going into one channel through the Smart-Fly Equalizer 3D which is supplying power to the rudder servos via a second battery pack. I tested and the RX will get backfed from the Rudder servos battery pack if the RX pack was to fail. Pretty slick. Also mounted the RX and antenna tube. I used the NASA type foam that Fred Johnson gave me.

I drilled the exit hole at a 10 degree angle and that worked out pretty well.  Getting this stuff just right is important if you want your plane to perform flawlessly. The exit holes have to be in exactly the right place and matching on each side of the plane. The control horn and bellcrank have to be straight and perfectly parallel to each other. The cables have to be the exact same length... and the geometry has to be just right. Or, else you have problems like the non-pulling cable slacking when you turn the rudder one way, but when you turn the rudder the other way that non-pulling cable tightens up! I had a plane built for me that was setup all wrong like that. Some of these builders just get too over-confident and/or stubborn and never get this stuff right. A smart person (expert or not) is always willing to listen and learn. Also, you'll notice I put a nyrod tube over one of the cables to keep them from emitting any interference to the RX. Shown too is the stock tailwheel that is included with the plane, very nice touch.

Figured I'd better get going on the wings because I don't know what length pushrods I'm going to have to get. This picture shows that I've installed the servos with extensions, gap sealed, put a piece of covering in the servo bay, and have made a straight line off the side of the servo body to check the hard point location. I like the hole for the control horn to be 1/4" from a straight line drawn off the servo body. This gives me better geometric leverage when I'm pinned at full deflection in harrier rolls, and such. The WH has the hard point pre-drilled under the covering 1/2" away.... which is close enough (I've seen builders put these things 1-1/2" away... where you'll break the output gear off the servo at full deflection). Also, I like to use the Dean's 1003 connectors on my aileron leads because they're very secure and durable.

I mounted the elevator servos... I put some extra wood behind the 1/8" ply on each side where the servo screws go through... standard practice. And, also put a drop of ZAP Thin CA in each hole that I drilled to mount the servos.

 I had alot of ideas on batteries and power... but ended up keeping it simple and going with two 4400 packs. They're lighter than the 4000s and 3600s. One switch, battery, and regulator go to the RX... and one switch, battery, and regulator go to the Smart-Fly 3D Equalizer that is running my three rudder servos. The Smart-Fly 3D will back-feed the RX if there is an RX battery failure... so I have redundancy there. I could have went with a smaller pack on the Equalizer for the rudder servos... but what the hey!

At this point (and there's not much assembly left), I've built the thing bone stock, with the exception of modifying the already existing rudder/RX tray. I've used the pre-drilled hard points with the recommended Rocket City style hardware. I've used the stock RX /rudder tray, the stock fuel tank tray, the stock switch cutouts... and even mounted the engine with the method shown in the manual. Oh yeah... and the stock pre-drilled holes for the hinges, with the included Robart hinges. Being that I didn't have any 6" long pushrods... and had to order some CF ones from Central Hobbies... I kinda wish I just would have gotten the hardware pack from Wild Hare that has everything you need (CF pushrods, etc.)... already the right size... included.

Guys are always asking me how to keep things light... one thing is to try to use the structure that is already there to mount your gear... instead of adding trays and glue. Notice in this pic how all my gear is mounted on existing structure. The only wood I added anywhere was a couple of sticks to mount the servo tray to... and those didn't weigh much more than the wood I chopped out of the existing tray to modify it. Keeping these things as light as possible pays dividends in confidence, improvement, and fun!

I used Pacer Z-42 thread locker on all the metal to metal connections on the linkages. I gap sealed all surfaces, installed the control horns by drilling out the factory pilot-holes in the hard points, and applied the jerseymodeler.com decals! I made up some custom length carbon fiber pushrods for the elevators. I did not go with the glue-in ends shown in the pic above on the right. They scared me, so I went with Tom Fawcett's method of putting a continuous 4/40 rod through a 3/16" carbon fiber tube... securing it with a 4/40 nut on each end (don't forget the thread locker!). I went with 4" titanium pushrods on the ailerons, but I think 4-1/2" would work well, too. Then I programmed the servos. Check out the 3 part video series of me programming a Hitec servo below: 

I used the i4c battery checker and a small screw driver to adjust the voltage on the regulators. Starting with the picture you see here, I then flipped on the power switch to the Smart-Fly Equalizer 3D and then held down the 1amp button on the i4c battery checker... and adjusted the output with the screw on the adjustable regulator. Then did the same for the RX battery. On my CompARF 2.6m Extra I'm using the Smart-Fly adjustable regulators, and Fromeco has adjustable regulators now, as well. 

I finished up mounting the stabs... Tom's design looks pretty darn stout... looks near impossible for the stab to rotate or slide off. I programmed the elevator servos with the Hitec Programmer. And, as always... they are now perfectly linear and each elevator half matches the other perfectly throughout the range of throw. This always seemed like an impossible task before I started using Hitec digital servos and the Hitec Programmer (that being matched halves throughout the entire 100+ degrees of throw).

You're looking to get the pivot points as close to the rudder hinge line as possible... and also not have them much wider than the tiller arm pivot points (I like them just a little wider though to help with the steering). The picture on the right shows full rudder deflection... you don't want any stress on the non-pulling spring at all... and only a little stress on the pulling spring (remember, this is not just about ground handling but also servo power in the air). Setting up the geometry like this allows you to use stiff springs with no fear of losing rudder power in the air. Stiff springs get you the ground handling you need for paved runways (especially on windy days).

On to the throttle servo. I opted to block off the air going to the fuse by putting a piece of carbon fiber skinned balsa on the bottom of the motor box. Then to continue the look, and the air blocking, I went with some carbon fiber style Ultracote everywhere else.  I then cut the throttle servo into the balsa, but did install two screws through to the motor-box plywood on one side of the servo like Tom shows in the assembly manual... the other side I backed out with a small piece of hardwood. I went to the inboard hole on the servo arm, and the outboard hole on the carburetor arm... so as to have maximum resolution on my throttle stick for hovering maneuvers. The bottom looked so nice I went ahead and did the same thing to the top. 

Here's a couple of pics of the fuel dot I used. This thing is way kool! You can get these from James for $22 (shipping and T included). Email James to get yours by clicking here.

I cut the bottom of the cowl out for the engine exhaust. Man, that carbon fiber is gonna look nice in the hovering pictures. 

Here it is all done! Check out those awesome graphics from Kirbys Kustom Graphics, they really make a difference! And, that beautiful 4.5" Ultimate Truturn spinner with lightened backplate!