Have had a bunch of posts concerning the plane and have mixed feelings.
The gear is shady to say the least. The firewall is hot glued as you suspect but proved to be
beneficial when it tip stalled in and broke away clean.
Second crash wasn't so pretty. Canopy is VERY flimsy and will crack if you
fart in the geneal vicinity of it. Reinforce you wing joints with fiberglass and epoxy
Don't think the added weight will affect the flight charecteristics that much.
Once airborne it is a super flyer. It's just getting it off and landing that are
tricky and need carefull attention to technique.
It's no trainer and needs airspeed. Elevator is very sensitive and will drag'er down
if the power isn't there. I installed a TT .91FS and it had pleanty of power
and sounded great idling along.
Definitelyplace the main gear wires and read my post about moding the retracts to go
over 85 degrees or they will tuck under in a heart beat.
Still Re-rebuilding mine and hope to try again before it snows