Thanks for the input! I'll tell you what, I'm a computer nerd and I post to A LOT of forums relating to everything from computer gaming to off-road trucking to marine biology to r/c. This is one of the friendliest, most helpful forums I've visited.

I used to use a 4'x8' table with 1" thick styrofoam for construction. I used a bunch of different size T-pins and built on top of the plans with wax paper on top, using the styrofoam as a pincushion. I was wondering if there was a better way to do this? I had thought about doing the hollow-core door thing, but that always seemed like it would be a pain in the rear to stick pins into.

On the BTE kit I don't think I'd want to change any of the hardware that is already supplied. If it is as high quality as I'm hearing, the supplied parts should be fine. However, as soon as I finish this plane, I'll be starting on either an Extra 300 or an Ultimate (more than likely the latter) while I relearn to fly on the King. I'm sure, especially if I go with the CG Ultimate, that I'll want to change out a lot of the parts. I'll worry about that later though.

I ordered some of the Handibond glue with my King from BTE. Bruce said it's worked really well for him over the past few years so I thought I'd give it a try. I use to use Zap back in the day. I hope the Handibond is a good glue. He recommended some epoxy brands but I can't remember off the top of my head what they were. Any suggestions here?

What on earth is a shape pencil? :/

Is a wing jig or other tool such as that necessary? I didn't have anything like that with my Chipmunk, and it looked square/lined up, but misalignments that you can't see with your eye can affect flight performance. I'm rather anal about such things.

I have plenty of patience. I'm in no hurry to finish! I haven't even ordered the motor or radio yet, or any building supplies except CA. I'll probably order more supplies tomorrow, and get the engine and motor when it comes time to fit them.

What about a good filler? I'm hoping I won't need any, but you never know.

Thank you for all the advice so far.