All Avistars (select included) tend to build nose heavy. Either move the battery behind the bulkhead at the rear of the wing saddle or plan on adding weight to the tail. I've build about a dozen of these, and always found this to be the case.

If you fly off of grass, you will want to replace the wheels with larger ones. There just isn't enough prop clearance to avoid chopping a lot of grass, which will slow that 40LA engine the plane comes with to the point where it might not even taxi, let alone get enought speed to take off. Just replacing the front wheel with a larger one will help a lot too, if you don't want to replace the whole set.

Again, if you will be flying off of grass, replace the wood prop that comes with this plane with an APC 10x6 or similar prop. The Topflite wood prop that comes with the "Select" will get chewed up by the grass and dandelions it will surely encounter.

You may also want to replace the plastic spinner that comes with the kit with a suitable "spinner nut". You will need a 1/4-28 threaded one for the 40LA. You can get these in a wide variety of collors. Be sure to get an aluminum one, as the other metals this item comes in are heavier, and more weight on the nose is one thing this plane doesn't need! The spinner nut is a nice convenience, as it won't get marred up if you are using an electric starter, and if the engine backfires and the prop gets loose, it is much easier to retighten the spinner nut than it is to remove a spinner so that you can get to the nut holding the prop in place.

BTW, I only crashed 2 of those 12 that I've put together. The plane is the 1st to go when the hangar gets too full, and then I'm always sorry when I do and end up buying another (new/used/damaged/??). I've also built 4 just for a model aviation class our club holds every year. It's one of our favorites because it does fly so nicely.