RE: Citabria Pro by Balsa USA
I know what you mean about playing with flaps, the C-Pro would be cool with them IMO. This leads to the biggest nit-pik I and a couple of other guys have with this design. The ailerons are TOO small, plain and simple. I fly mine on high rate and with 1.5" upward throw and .5" downward throw(differential) and the roll rate is too slow for my likes. It's quicker than a cub but nothing like an Extra. Got me to thinking if I ever built another, I do have a spare kit, that I would make the ailerons longer, perhaps 2/3 span, to gain a little more roll authority.
Considering the fact that the ailerons are short and far outboard on the wing they really won't function well as flaps of any kind. They will act as spoilers when raised, have not messed with this myself tho..., raising them will provide a bit of artificial wash-out which could possibly be beneficial. Lowering them would produce the opposite, wash-in, which could promote tip stall behavior.
I think the best thing you can do is dail in as much throw as you can and some healthy differential, this REALLY smooths out the flying characteristics of this plane and makes it a joy to fly. Be very conservative on the elevator throws though, it's big and will get snappy on you real quick, mine started with the reccomended in the build guide and I think I dailed some out still. Rudder is pretty small so dail in as much as possible, mine come to within 1/16" of the elevator on both sides of the throw.
The only other thing I can add is the take-off characteristics can be interesting. DO NOT horse this bird into the air! Apply power slowly and let it roll out while the tail lifts and add in power, then break ground once the airspeed is up. If you try to yank it off too quick you'll know it because this thing gets real squirrely on the ground when flown that way.