I personally liked the wood parts of my Zero, the problem with my plane was the plastic parts cracking just from engine vibration alone. wing saddles, the florebord inside the canopy that supports the pilot has cracked letting the pilot flop around.
I am guilty of overpowering my Zero im using a .91 forestroke. But the tail of the plane was so heavy that even with the heavy .91 in it i still had to add 2 ounces of lead to the nose to ballance it. my plane weighs the same 7 to 7.5 lbs as some others that used smaller engins they had to use even more lead in the nose to ballance it. I like this plane it looks good. just want the plastic parts tot to stay together longer.