Hi Shannon.....I did the tail weight with the boom level and me in the seat, but only about 1/4 tank of gas, and the scale showed 29 lbs. According to the seat adjusting chart it should be only 25lbs. for my weight....however I know it flys well with a full tank and the rotax's, so I'm thinking the heavier clone engines (12 lbs. total) should help correct a tail heavy situation a little bit....but you know it doesn't fly like it's tail heavy which surprises me when I see the weight and balance figures..and when I'm landing I'm pretty well run out of back stick, and that would indicate to me that the C of G is not grossly out....At any rate I'll do a couple of test hops down the runway to feel it out.....I'm expecting it will fly just fine the way it is.
I really don't know much about the covering (no logs of course) except that it's Stits and done 8 or so years ago...I suspect it's 1.7 fabric and done properly...although it isn't rib stiched, it has cap strips on all the bottom ribs. The paint job is great and quite unusual,..two tone green plus yellow stripe over white, and I can't beleive anyone would do such a meticulous job without doing it properly....It was always stored inside when Frank owned it, and I've kept it covered, either in the barn, or tarped when I'm not flying it....I logged 41 hrs in it last summer with only one engine failure, about 2 miles from my strip....made it back ok on the one....seals and bearings shot but the piston and rings were ok.
I'm still waiting for the tinytachs, special order, 9' leads to mount down in the pod, and also the fuel pressure regulators, and tidy up the wiring etc.....they should be in soon, other than that, by the time my strip dries up I should be good to go.
Thanks for sharing your knowlege and expertise Shannon...It is very much appreciated.................Cheers.....Pete.... A899 C-IGGI