Preparation and Maintaining the AirVista

Although it may not suggest any of these recommendations in the manual, it is a good idea to take the following into consideration.

Starting with the back of the plane moving to the front, the horizontal stabalizers(elevator fin) and rudder fin(vertical stabalizer) are a bit wobbely. This should be corrected by applying a long triangular shaped piece of balsa so either side of the rudder fin. Also a piece under and above the elevator fin will do. If you are afraid about screws backing out of their place in flight,(like I am), the landing gear screws should have a locktight washer in between the plane and the retainer. Moving inside the plane, the fuel tank should be covered with foam. It does not mention this in the manual, but does on the tank box. It should be covered incase the gas starts to foam inside the tank. If you like, you could also fuelproof your fuselage by adding a very thin layer of eppoxy on the balsa. This will protect any exposed wood from getting saturated in fuel should your tank puncture. The wing saddle should also have some foam layed on the top, this will make the wing fit on nicely and also absorbe vibration from the engine. Next, GreatPlanes says that the wing halves should just slide together and remain there with tape... ...? My instuctor almost had a heart attack when he heard that I did not eppoxy my wings together. So take his word for it and mine too, Glue the halves together, it may save your plane in the future! On to the front! The engine mount supplied does not include the sufficiant length of screws. Get some longer ones at a hardware store. While you are there, pick up four(4) Locktight Nylon nuts and two(2) peices of thin short rubber. The rubber you will need will give a more frictional surface between the engine and the mount allowing easier mounting, and easier adjustments. Screw the locktight nuts in place to prevent undoing of the engine. Trust me, engines are meant to fly with the plane! Not by themselves!! The cowling fits the enging nicely, although we wouldn't mention it if something didn't need to be changed would we. The needle valve needs an extension out of the cowling. I tried to cut my cowling...not a good idea! Just use a small paperclip or nail. The carborator didn't fully clear the cowl on my plane so that had to be trimmed back. Also, it would be a good idea to drill a small hole big enough to insert a small screwdriver through on the opposite side. This hole should be drilled in correspondance with the idle screw. That way for future adjustments, you won't need to remove the muffler, and the cowl to make a small change.