I guess not much interest in this thread, but I'll do one more post, because I flew the plane today and I just love it!

It seems both extremely easy to fly and extremely capable. Easy, straight takeoffs; I greased the first landing and most of the others. It can go fast, but it slows down nicely and you can poke around at 1/3 throttle and it is perfectly steady. Scarcely had to trim it at all, very straight climb, straight up, with a very nice stall turn at the top, and a tail slide another time. Rudder is very effective with scarcely any roll coupling. It's a go-where-you-point-it airplane that always feels comfortable and under control.

With the CG at 3.5 inches (manual advises 3.35) it is close to neutral in pitch. If you put it in a dive, it pretty much stays there till you pull it out. Flew inverted with very little up. But the elevator control was also very smooth and totally in control. I used the recommended throws, or actually a bit more, but with about -50% expo on all. That gave me really nice control and I felt no need for dual rates. Also, you can cruise along at half throttle and give it full throttle, and the plane just speeds up...no or almost no climb. Rolls are very fast and axial, snaps and spins are easy to start and easy to recover. The manual clearly has a good recommendation for CG...not way conservative like some.

The Irvine 39 (actually a 36) with MA 11x5 prop was very good power. Not a rocket with this engine/prop, but a fine grain throttle control, straight up as far as I would want, and it slows down pretty quick. It gave me the same feeling as the control surfaces...plenty of authority, but always under comfortable control.

I would definitely buy another.

Jim