I agree, owning one. Its my third plane after a month with a high-wing .46 trainer, then about 6 months with a Hangar 9 P-51 PTS (upgraded with full flaps and a magnum .80 4 stroke). After those 7 or so months flying plus countless hours on the simulator (I spend a lot of time at my computer), the bipe is still a handful for me. I guess my biggest issue actually is orientation of the plane, but it still has a lot of drag to it, so it slows down quickly, and it just doesn't fly like what I've otherwise flown. It can be a blast, but you need to learn it well and get into it. The only thing that I haven't expereinced that everyone else said would happen with it was hot landing. I don't need to land hot to land properly with the plane, it can slow down plenty, but you can't glide it because of the drag I mentioned, it needs to be landed powered.

There is a whole crew of people posting on a huge build thread dedicated to the 10-300. I'm sure your question will be addressed and welcomed there, and I'm sure any future questions you may have have already been encountered there multiple times (including the smoke I believe).

http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_49..._1/key_/tm.htm

Welcome to the CG 10-300 club