Thanks for the info. I'm gonna mull it over for a few days.

I'm not really interested at all into getting into 3-D stuff any time soon. I just like the planes that do "scale" like manauvers - stuff like loops/rolls/snaps (that don't go on forever unlike real life) and stalls.

I get aggravated flying my trainer at times cause it wants to self right intead of going where I'm telling it to ...that and it won't stall at all really. I just put it straight up a lot and cut the power to get it into any kinda stall manauver.

One reason I don't want to go the "stick" route is looks - pure and simple. If I can find a plane that will do what I want and look OK to me that's a bonus and that includes having at least a partial cowl yeah I know you can't have it all but I bet someone could put out a sport type plane like a 4 star with a cowl and a decent canopy and make a ton of cash off people like me.