I scratch built both of them. The first one I built it completely by the plans, second one I cut foam wing cores and even cut the fuse out of foam from the trailing edge back. I like building, I scratch build a lot. Scratching out a P-38 Lightning now, 100 inch, about to the covering stage. Never had any issues with balance. The DLE 55 would be plenty of power. The main landing gear are quite heavy. I would strongly suggest finding a source for some carbon fiber and use that instead of laminating 4 1/4" ply together. I would suggest that for the upper wing also. There was a fix out there suggesting the big goofy wing lets that some 3 D guys use. I had none on the first one. On the second one I did use a easy to make fowler type tip for all 4 wing tips. Basically 1/8" aircraft ply on the last rib, flush with the rib on top but hangs below the rib about a 1/4" at leading edge to about an inch at the trailing edge and going about a 1/2" farther back then the trailing edge. Bend the landing gear forward from what the plan shows, get the axle a little ahead of the leading edge. This works like a wing tip skid but more importantly it lowers the stall speed of the wing. A friend of mine in Billings MT. has one done much like the original, he did not build it and I do not think he ever flew it. It is a fairly hard build getting all the wing angles aligned is a job. Make sure and get a Robart incidence meter if you do not have one. Merry Christmas and have a great new year, I'm in my 70s also.