My experience with this plane has been a learning one. I got three flights in before this beautiful bird drilled in on a deadstick landing. I am no stranger to the deadstick landing. The plane is very tailheavy, and will require a lot of weight in the nose. Fortunately, I stuck it in the mud, which limited the damage to broken formers, wing saddle, and wingtip. The cowl stood up very well, but the engine mount and my carb didn't. I am almost finished with the restoration. All in all, this is a pretty tough bird. In flight the silver color is easy enough to see in sunshine or overcast. When I replace the weight in the nose, I will use strip lead, and epoxy it to the furthest forward point in the LOWER portion of the cowl. I had the weight stacked on top of the engine mount. The battery was over the line of thrust also. I believe this caused a TOP HEAVY condition, leading to a tip stall condition. It "capsized" like a boat with the ballast above the waterline. I am NOT going to let this plane beat me!! It will have some scars, however, I will let everyone know how the project turns out.[>:]