HI WOLVERINE! BELLINGHAMs not that far away. Any chance you would like to do some streamer chasing? I haven't flown any rulebook RC combat, I mostly fly 1/2A around here with .061s. The action is slower, closer, and less damaging when they hit. I'm also geared up to fly SSC this year. The points THOJO made make a lot of sense. I think the engine mount should only be strong enough to support the engine for vibration free runs, but able to snap away cleanly when the model goes straight in. The other thing would be as low a parts count as possible. Last but not least, the planes that can haul around the most wing span will be better at collecting streamers than a plane with less span. The guys at the top of the AMA food chain all had planes with lots of span.