1) I didn't modify mine any. I simply coated the dowels with thin CA and that's it. Out of all of the flying I did over the weekend, mine didn't show any signs of rubbing/burning.

2) I didn't reinforce the landing gear block at all. IMHO, if you know how to land a plane the way it's meant to be landed, the stock setup will be fine. If one has a habit of coming in with a slight nose down attitude, I'm sure all of their planes have the landing gear reinforced.

3) I simply went around the perimeter of the inside of the firewall with epoxy. Using the larger engine, this may be a very good idea. It's cheap insurance anyway.

4) Probably at your LHS. To tell you the truth, I left my horizontal stab stock. I epoxied the hell out of it and left it alone. When maidening it over the weekend, I put enough stress on the tail to find out whether or not it would hold. Everything stayed together, even during the blender and some other heavy snap maneuvers.

5) You'll definately need a new mount.

6) Don't let all of the previously mentioned problems scare you. Build the plane using plenty of glue in the needed areas and everything will work fine. You will probably have to build a hatch in the belly of the plane aft of the compartment for you battery, but that's the only mod I did to mine. Build it like any other plane and fly the crap out of it. You won't be dissappointed. If something does come appart, it'll probably be someting you did wrong, and not a structural failure. That comment goes out to all Ultra Stick flyers.