I was getting to the point where I wanted to retire my trainer and reuse the hardware in something else, it was coming up to christmas and when I saw the advert for this model it was reduced by about a third. I got the wife to get it for me for christmas :) It is a low-wing model with a very large wing much like a limbo dancer.

The kit is available in several options, I ordered the foam wing and it came with a pre-built fuselage. I didn't bother extra hardware pack, since I was unsure what quality of bits it would include, it did come with a canopy, cowl and pre-bent undercarriage.

On opening the box you find it is full of bits of polysytrene used for packing,  the wing is HUGE and was packed inside along with the fuselage wrapped in bubble wrap. There is a bag of assorted pieces of balsa and ply, some pre-cut, most of them marked in pencil with a number along with a couple of bundles of various strip wood and a bunch of polystyrene wing ribs. For a while this had be puzzled, but it appeared that they had sent a foam wing as ordered, but also the parts required for the build-up wing, this may sound good, except it did not include the leading edge for the foam wing.

The construction guide comprises of about 22 pages of printed and stapled A4, half of which were layouts for building the built-up tail feathers and ailerons. The guide contains no information about completing the foam wing and is very basic with the rest of the assembly process.

The layout of the ailerons and stabiliser are spread over two pages, so you are required to cut them out and stick them together with sticky tape, not ideal, and as I found out after building the stabiliser, one half was longer than the other, requiring me to draw my own plan for it and build a second one - arghh!

Once I had completed the build-up surfaces, I pretty much chucked the instructions away.

Servo and radio space is quite tight, surprising given the size of the model. The throttle servo had to be mounted on it's side to provide enough clearance for the wing.

The engine, an old Enya SS40, was to be mounted inverted to fit within the cowl. Taking time and care I managed to get the engine positioned to exit the cowl centrally, however, when fitting the blind nuts for the engine mount I discovered that I could not fit the tops ones since that part of the firewall was not accessible due to the foam decking, I ended up using some good screws here instead, not ideal. I also found that the engine had to be mounted right at the front of the engine mount to position the prop-drive washer correctly, I was concerned about any flex or vibration that may occur in the arms of the mount, we'll have to wait to see.

Right about now this was turning into a real saga!

The fusalage and tail feathers were covered and fitted, then I found that the stabiliser slot was not cut parrallel so that one end was lower than the other. This was AFTER I had glued it duh! So I had to rip it out and build a new stabiliser, fortunately the elevator halfs were able to be saved.

Hinging, what is it with hinges, they dry fit fine, but the moment you add glue they just refuse to go back in correctly causing frustration, rash acts with the scalpel and glue all over the place - arghh!

In order to carry the two-tone color scheme onto the cowl, I found some paint which was a good enough match for the purple but couldn't find a satisfactory pearlescent white, although Krylon in the US product something which seemed like it would do the job but it is not available from the UK supplier. So, with a bit of caution I managed to apply some matching trim to the abs cowl and it is not too bad, incidentally, all the covering was with Profilm and Protrim.

I took the wheel spats that came with the Vasp kit, prepped and painted them to suit and fitted them here, it makes the undercarriage look much better.

Whilst waiting to complete the wing, I found that it was necessary to cut out a section from the front/top of the wing to provide clearance for the fuel tank. Since the wing is secured by rubber bands, I added a few locating blocks to help it sit squarely in place.

Eventually the wing servo mounting boxes arrived, these are the type which are a complete box, rather than just a lid. The base units were fitted into the wing and then finally the wing was ready for covering. The servo box covers were painted to match.

Finally the trim detail was applied, I used my usual method of printing out templates from my pc and sticking this to the back of the trim and then cutting it out. I was going to use an aluminium spinner, but I tried a yellow Goldberg spinner which came with the Vasp and it looked better along with a wooden prop. The Goldberg spinners are a nicer shape than the cheaper spinners I have used in the past.