Slow:

If you take some short cuts the contender is a good plane, one of the must eliminate items is the original wingtip, ugly as home made sin and a bear to make well.

The 4* 40 is an excellent design also, but the 60 version wasn't designed by the same man, and is just not as good an airplane. The Venture 60 IS done by the man who did the 4* 40, and is an even better plane (IMO) than the 4* 40.

But for ease of construction, and just plain delightful sport flying, John Marien's planes (from Northeast Aerodynamics) are hard to beat. If you were to get the [link=http://www.ne-aero.com/sportair60.html]Sport-Air 60[/link] you would then have the single engine version of the [link=http://www.ne-aero.com/twinair45.html]Twin-Air 45[/link]. Good experience leading to your first twin. Click on the underlined plane names to see more details.

Bill.