Hey BasinBum,
Thanks for the info (and everyone else). I bought my engine at Hobby People in Pasadena. Unlike another location I've been to, a couple of the guys at the Pasadena shop are pretty helpful and seem knowledgable. At any rate, I kind of assumed Hobby people might just send it in.
The other two shops I go to are Covina Hobby shop and Pegasus hobbies near clairmont. I've never been to hobby house or hobby zone. I'll see if I can locate them.
As for Fuselage damage, I looked at it more yesterday and surprisingly the tail wasn't damaged at all. I reinforced the vertical stabilizer and it looks like I must have done a good job!
It and the hstab are fine, as for the rest of the fuselage. I'm still going to give it all another closer look today. I was very worried about the firewall, but there just don't seem to be any signs that it was damaged or loosened. I'm going to mention the pre-flight crash when I take it to the field though, and see if anyone else can spot any damage or weakness before it goes up. Are there any signs I should look for? It doesn't feel loose or looked cracked or unglued. I took the hatch off and checked in the fuel compartment area and behind the firewall.. seems fine.
Thanks for the offer. I'd love to take you up on it, but the basin is a little out of the way for me. Not much, but Whittier and Santa Fe dam are much closer. I'm planning on flying at whittier. (it's free with AMA membership, but I'm joining the club anyway - meetings are at El Monte airport, which is only 2 miles from here). Do you only fly at the Basin?
Don't wuss out and give up now.
Eh.. I wasn't really thinking about selling off my stuff and quitting. I just wanted to sulk. Haha