Hill, nice job, good luck with your maiden, it should be uneventful as this is a great flying airplane. The CG where you have it should be fine, also why do you have to assemble the struts? I have the full wing version and leave them on all the time, disconnecting/connecting only at the fuselage. I reinforced the bottom half of the kit box with duct tape and lined the floor surface with medium foam and now use it to transport and store the wings on edge and it's a perfect fit! By the way I don't use differential on mine, I mixed 12% rudder with aileron and that takes care of any yawing.