This is a previous post I made on the Stearman.

I really enjoy my Kyosho Stearman. It's a lot of fun to fly and is quite aerobatic. It is easy to assemble. The decals were easy to apply and they have stayed on through 100+ flights. It is not a beginners plane to fly. It's not squirrelly but it demands your full attention. When people ask me how it flies I tell them it flies like a biplane. It has no bad stall characteristics like snapping and is easy to land. It will float in like a trainer, which is unusual for a bipe with a radial front end. It also handles well in wind or cross wind. This is probably because it is so light. Mine weights 5.25 lbs. The construction is very very good and strong except for the tail feathers. The covering on mine was good but a little loose. This was easily corrected with a heat gun.
I use a YS53 for power and an 11/7 APC prop.. It's a bit much and I normally fly at half to 2/3rds power. It balanced right at the aft balance point recommended in the addendum, with no weight required. The first flights were quite tail heavy but manageable. I put a brass spinner nut on it and that got it where I like it, still a little tail heavy.
Ground handling is real handful with mine unlike the experience of others that posted on the rivanna thread. And I haven't flown anything but tail draggers in years. It takes a fine touch on takeoff to keep it from swerving and a fine touch after landing to keep it from ground looping. maybe I got something in the landing gear screwed up. With a little concentration though it will go straight down the middle.
I didn't like a lot of the hardware (low quality) although I used most of it and haven't had any problems in a 100+ flights. I did throw away the threaded bolts for the landing gear and put in Dubro axels. I used their bolt and nuts for the struts and eventually replaced them with 4-alen screws and lock nuts. The wood screws holding the cabane struts to the fuselage kept coming loose so I replaced them with threaded 4/40 brass inserts in the fuselage and 4/40 alen screws. Putting hardwood blocks in the fuselage to accept the brass inserts was kind of a pain because of the double wall fuselage. I didn't use the heat shrink for the control rods, instead I bound and glued them, like I always do.
Make sure you get the "N" struts in the right way.
Follow the addendum for CG and control throws. I did wind up putting in more aileron throw on high rates and the recommended on low rates. The high rates turned out about right. I increased the rudder throw after a few flights and this was a mistake. Too much rudder throw causes sever pitching toward the gear and rotation in the opposite direction. It's called rudder stall.
My wheel pants were fiber glass. Don't put them on until you've made enough flights to be comfortable you will make a smooth landing every time.
On your flight questions. It will knife edge nicely with only moderate rudder input. It snap rolls easily either inside or outside. I have only been able to get a flat spin to the left and it's pretty but not real flat. I haven't been able to get it to flat spin to the right or inverted. I suspect that's because I haven't got the application of power and aileron quite right, (timing and coordination). Stall turns are good. Loop tracking is a little iffy. This is far from a pattern or IMAC plane. It's not a precession aerobat.
Now for the bad. The horizontal stab broke twice during flight. I thought is kind of weak when I built the plane but I didn't do anything about it. I only do snaps at low speed and I have avoided any other high speed violent maneuvers but it broke anyway. Both times I managed to land the plane smoothly and taxi back to the pits. God is my co-pilot. The first time the break was about 2 inches out from the fuselage and through both the leading and trailing edges on the left stab. I fixed it with carbon fiber sheet through the leading and trailing spars, both sides naturally. The second time it broke at the fuselage and took nearly full down elevator to land. Again I think the good lord was driving and I made smooth landing and taxed back in. More carbon fiber and I haven't had a problem since. I strongly recommend wire braces if you build one.
Denis