The structure is more than adequate for any wind you feel comfortable flying in... however you are talking about a plane with 400 square inches of area and weighing only 9.5 ounces... it's gonna get tossed around. You won't break it in the air but if it gets blown over or around on the ground it could get hurt. Flying in the wind can be fun and challenging and if you are accustomed to flying inside and getting flight times of 8 to 10 minutes you can expect to cut those times down by as much as 30 percent due to additional throttle needed to penetrate into the wind. As for the second question, i have only built the designer series for Sean and others... from start to finish they take me 17 hours each. The first kit should take no more than six hours and any following kits should be able to be completed in much less time. While at Great Planes during developement of this kit, I know that many were built between the finish of morning meetings and lunch time by staff modelers. I will be building my first production kits this weekend and will have other info available by monday. Jim F. should have his done and could answer questions by now.