Hi Steve, Im not sure who told you that our planes are hard to fix. When I go to the flying field, I usually take along clear 2" tape-5 minute epoxy and extra props. I think the longest down time I have had is an hour and then Im back in the air. I love going to combat events where there is alot of balsa planes. I like the way balsa twirls through the air after a mid air hit. The engines you have will work great. If you want a sport flyer and tamer flying plane, just leave the wings a little longer. On our webpage, there is links to many different building techniques from people on our customer comments page. Any of the suggestion others have posted are all good ideas. The whole idea behind these planes is to have fun and not worry about the occasional bad landing. JKAerotech