Hey TJ, thanks for the rundown on your (painful) first flight; sorry to hear about that. Just my opinion, but if I were you, from now on if I were the only one at your field, I would stand about 2 feet from that wind sock pole when flying.
Can you post some photos of your repairs, just so we can see what the uncovered framing looks like? By the way, what size is that three-blade prop? I flew an H9 Taylorcraft on a Saito 150 and a two-blade prop for a while; it was plenty aerobatic with great vertical capability, but on the other hand it was probably 2 or 3 pounds lighter.