Let's not get caught up in comparing planes that are too old to more recent classics... there's no comparison between a Taurus and an Arrow!

MrSteve09, I was actually thinking of the 2 meter Dirty Birdy, and hopefully revving-up the engine so I can get some decent vertical acceleration. I also need to figure a way to leave the pipe hanging out really nicely. I'll have to look into tricycle gear also.

I do believe that bigger is better, especially in the wind, but pattern design is essentially been fairly straightforward for decades... you simply eliminate cross-coupling and trim it to fly straight in all attitudes and power settings. It's not magic.