I normally tell people to NOT build the plane like they sell it to you. But finally, this one sounds like you should. How refreshing!!! I would tell you to do all of these mods.

The sheeting for the turtle deck is rounded, which makes it very rigid and stronger than you need, the stab ties all of the skins together. How many tail sections do you have from crashes? I have a lot of them, they were the only thing to survive. Why? Because they are overbuilt. Extra tips: Use Hitec 225's for ailerons, HS 81 for throttle and 605's for ruder/elevator.

I built the 59" wingspan GP Cap at 4.37lbs, ready to fly with a heavy MDS 48. Not only was it built with all of the techniques that you have listed in this post, but the only ply was the firewall and landing gear plate, everything else was 6lb contest balsa. I joked when I fired up the engine the first time telling everyone that if they knew how it was built that they wouldn't want to be near it.

Ended up being a great flying plane!!! Lasted forever and took a lot of abuse.

I didn't know until I tried.

The gap in the horizonal stab is bad, scab in filler pieces. But other than that, build it like they sold it to you. Take lots of pictures. Then if it breaks in the air, call Bubba, and if you can not get any satisfaction from him, (I would be suprized) then post about how crappy this ARF is...