I have a Midwest Extra that I built over the winter with a Brison 3.2 on it and it is a fantastic flyer. The kit is a fairly easy build but it does take some time to do it right. There are a lot of mod's out there to get the weight down. The fuse is over engineered for strength and there is a lot of weight to be saved by enlarging lightening holes, replacing hardwood with balsa/carbon and other things. Mine came out at 14 lbs 10oz and I didn't get carried away with all of the lightening ideas I read about. I enlarged lightening holes, cut a lightening hole in the landing gear mounting plate, and replaced the fuse stringers with balsa. If you really want to get wild with it, I have heard of people getting it down into the 13 pound range. I can easily shave another 6-8 ounces by changing the landing gear with CF, getting a CF spinner, and going with LiPo batteries if I want. The stock aluminum landing gear is quite heavy but since this is my first 'giant' I am going to keep it until I get more comfortable with my landings. I would hate to break an expensive CF gear with a rough landing. I have already bent the aluminum gear once![X(] One big drawback (one which I accidentaly missed when I researched the plane) is it has a one piece main wing. Just about every other plane of this size has plug in wings. If transportation is a problem for you, a surfboard sized wing might be a huge issue. It almost was for me![:@] Another mod I did that I didn't read anyone else doing (but I am sure others have done) is to move the fuel tank back so centered over the CG. This eliminated the need for any extra weight in the tail to balance, and also it keeps the CG right on no matter what the fuel level is. This is the first plane I have ever built (and I have built a lot of them) that balanced perfectly with no weight added or complete re-arrangement batteries/radio equipment. All in all, I really like this plane. I don't have a ton of flights on it yet so I am still learning its quirks, but it is a beautiful flying plane that makes me smile every time I take it up and that is what counts![8D]