So, how did it work out? I'm curious because I'm on my second Avistar and had a remarkably good day of flying today. All problems listed in this thread, I've experienced. My first Avistar had a Thunder Tiger GP .42, worked fine once I upsized the wheels and made sure the nose gear provided a stance for the whole plane not nose high or nose down. I was always rebending them back to normal. Also, I found getting the CG spot on to the manufacturers recommendation by putting the battery back in the fuselage behind the former for the wing trailing edge and adding a little weight to the tail, really made the plane great. Not overly sensitive, but takeoffs and landings really made a difference. I flew the heck out of that plane untill too many poor judgements and crackups made it just not worth fixing it again. That was a great airplane and I learned a lot about flying from it.

A few years passed and I missed the first Avistar and eventually found one on Ebay for a reasonable price and bought it. By that time I felt I was some kind of "Ace" flyer with a Spad Debonair that I put many many flights on. I built the Debonair as a straight wing taildragger and flew the heck out of it. It felt kind of sluggish, but with a Thunder Tiger Pro .46, you could power your way through all sorts of fun flights. The Deb eventually wore out and a bad takeoff made it just not worth to fix. But I had plenty of fun with it. With Avistar II I was convinced I was going to make it a hot airplane with a bearing .46 type engine with conventional gear. A Tower GMS .47 was purchased and I fought that engine for two years until I came to my senses and decided to get rid of the GMS .47 and put a nice Magnum XLS .46. Well I've finally gotten back to it, (I was flying other types of planes), and now that I've gotten it trimmed out nicely, it's a joy. Takeoffs are easy, don't rush it, but with sight elevator, she takes off nicely. Landiings are good as well, I've made sure I have a pretty good low idle. I was just elated with my good flights today, because I have had some problems up to today. Getting my ailerons and elevator throws/trim and expo corrected, made for effortless hands off the right stick level flight accross the field easy. Now this plane is flying great.

So just curios what ever happened to that Avistar.
Happy landings.
Tom