twistr - thanks for the compliment!

JNorton - No umbrella required (not raining on my parade at all). I appreciate the advice!
The Stik is our intermediate plane. The Shoestring won't even get a taxi test until we've logged at least a few months of flights on the Stik.

The .91 we have is a four-stroke so the 61FX is probably pretty close powerwise. I've done a lot reading through the Shoestring threads as well and we're incorporating some of the suggested mods (beefing landing gear mounts, etc.) into the build. From what I've read, the Shoestring can actually fly pretty slow too. You don't have to do 108mph all the time right?

My son is 19 and his reflexes and flying skills are actually quite good. Even the experienced pilots at our field have been impressed with his progress. I think I'm doing pretty well too but my son is definitely better. I could handle the Stik at normal rates with no problem once I got it trimmed out. What scared me was the first takeoff at full rates and being out of trim. That's why I asked about starting with low rates first.

The way I look at it, you have to be prepared for what can go wrong and only stick time will do that but talking to people at the field and on RCU helps a bunch too!