Honest, I am still working on Ray's Geo and making progress!  The stab and elevator are covered as are the flaps and one wing.  Next week, with luck and the "crick" don't rise, the second wing will be bright red too.  Then a shot of Schoolbus yellow epoxy on the fuselage and vertical, some Moneykote decor.

I broke in the Fox .049 engine a few weeks ago before my Aussie/Kiwi adventure.  That is a NICE engine.  On 15% Nitro, it turned a 5x3, 3-blade Tornado prop at 18K.  Very impressive.  Maybe even too much motor for this plane?  It does need nitro to run smoothly, and being a Fox, I suspect a whole heap of oil.  Considering that this is NOT the FAI "hot" version, I can only surmize that the reason it never caught on was highly variable quality.  It seems that the ones available now are carefully fitted from the available components.  I may have to get another....   

Sounds very interesting.  How do I contact Mattes engine?  I'm afraid I am completely unfamiliar with the name. 

              I believe this is the site. http://www.flyfreeflight.com/Site/Commercial_Parts.html  Ken

Final paint is on!  Tank made and a handle too.  Here are some photos.

Note that the wedge is at the BACK of the tank, not the side.  This lets me use standard tank ends and keep the width as small as possible.  That is a 3/4 ounce tank.  I get the parts from Eric Rule.  I am trying to convince him to make it a standard product.  The rear wedge works perfectly.  It is something I learned from Eric Clutton (Dr. Diesel).  This tank is uniflo, as most of mine are (except the balloon tanks, haven't figured out how to do that yet!)

The handle is my Ultimate 1/2A handle as produced, again by Eric at rsmdistribution.com .  Since the Geo has flaps, the exponential feature may be overkill, but then all I need to do is reshape the spacers.  Finish is two coats of Behr water based sanding sealer with cornstarch added, followed by liberal coats of Lusterkote.

The finish on the model is lightweight iron on film with Painters' Choise bright red to, hopefully, match on the fuselage and vertical tail.  Deco will be Moneykote cut-outs.  Supermarket plastic bags make a totally impervious masking material.

Next up is to make a tank mount, and then it is into the last fiddely bits.

Overall, Ray's design and kit are extremely good. The fit and finish of the parts was topnotch, and it was really complete.  The Geo structure is absolutely awesome in its rigidity. I am going to have to rip off the concept real soon. 

I would probably have gone a bit bigger, and a longer tail moment and smaller vertical.  But that is my style, and he has his.  I expect good things from this model.

If you look above, you will see: "Note that the wedge is at the BACK of the tank, not the side.  This lets me use standard tank ends and keep the width as small as possible.  That is a 3/4 ounce tank.  I get the parts from Eric Rule.  I am trying to convince him to make it a standard product."  

The model is from a Minnesotamodeler kit, and available from him.  There is a site in the vendors' forum section for his stuff.  The model is around 150 sq.in. I think. and I expect it to come out around 7 or 8 ounces.

Looking at the tank photo, the nearest tube out the front of the tank is the fuel pickup; it goes to the very back of the wedge on the outside. The other one is the uniflo; it exits about 1/4"ahead of the pickup.  The two tubes exit just above the tank seam side by side.  The tube out the side is the vent, and it gets capped off after filling.

                Hello Larry, the plane looks great. I like seeing the Fox on the nose as well. I have a Fox .07 that I play with from time to time. Amazing the power they provide for an older design, the Fox doesn't get the credit it deserves. I hope the flight goes well. Ken

Super nice Larry! Can't wait for the flight reports. What holds the tank to the pad and the pad to the adjuster?

Nice looking little ship. Good luck with it. I have two FAI Fox .049's but have not run them. They are fit pretty good .

Very Nice Job, Larry...and it only took you, what, a year? Year and a half? 
Just teasin'...
i downloaded the pix; OK if I use them somewhere for ad/illustration?

Prototype used a Cox production engine and balloon tank.  I guess your Fox-and-metal-tank must be a little heavier.  Couldn't hurt to shorten the nose a little, looks like you have room. 

Looking forward to flight reports!

Sadly, the Fox quit in mid-air twice.  The second time inverted.  All the bits are back together, a Cox spraybar installed (tiny bit of reaming, about .002 required for a press fit).  Examining the engine, the glow element was black on the end. On other engines, this has caused unreliability so I put in a new glowhead and extra gasket.

As expected, it is still a bit noseheavy, but the handle setting came out right and insides and outsides feel equal.

More as it develops!  I think it will be a good "bird" when I get it sorted out.

Late update, all is back together ready to fly.  I plan to go out Friday am.  No planned chages to the trim, as the engine seems to be the big issue. Until that is settled, I'll fly over grass!

I am flying on 42 ft lines of the new fishing leader line I found.  8 lb test is .006 diameter.  It does seem to have a small bit of stretch, despite claims to the contrary, but I didn't feel it while flying, not springy stretch like monofiliment line.  It has a peculiar wiggle in the line as it comes off the small reel that it is sold on. I expect tha it will go away as it is used. It certainly straightened out OK while flying.