Not having ever had a Vailly cowl in my hands, I'll take your word for it concerning the compound curves. The cowling still isn't right, however. (see attachments) A picture's worth a thousand words...yes, that's a Vailly Birddog, right off their website. Notice how much it resembles the full scale aircraft - NOT! The model's tail cone upsweep is too little, the fin/rudder's is too big, the rear windows are too big, the fuse is too thick...picture tells the story.

The overweight problem...think about it...if the aircraft only weighed 12-15 lbs. the wing/power loading ratios would be around half of what a 27 lbs. airplane has (Basic Physics/Aeronautical Design 101). Sure, it'll fly but at what speed? A Birddog zipping around at twice it's scale speed doesn't look very scale and it's going to have twice the landing loads imposed on the mains, wing struts and engine mnts. Hence, they've got to be twice as stout, the support structure has to be twice as stout, etc. (Read: HEAVY!)

Your comments on the "real" aircraft's weights and performance...you may want to re-read that section. One thing that's clear to anyone with eyes, the L-19 has near 1/2 the fuselage cross section as the 170 and, on it's best day, right out of the shop, a 170 will never be considered a STOL aircraft. Not because of the power difference but, moreso, because of the lift/drag ratios. (An L-5 has far better STOL performance than a 170 because of the lift/drag ratio of the aircraft, not horsepower.)

As to the landing gear, one could easily fabricate the mains from double, soldered together, music wire (old school) and have main struts that actually do have spring. Aluminum, especially your higher grades, have a terrible memory modulus! Anyone who's had to rebend their aluminum gear after a hard landing knows that! After a number of "Ooops!" landings it bends on every landing unless you take it off and re-temper the aluminum. How many modelers know how to do that? It's a band-aid fix, at best.

Why compromise on looks when you're compromising on performance as well?

Picky, yes I am but if you're going to put the word "Scale" and not "Stand-off Scale" or "Almost Scale" in the description, it had better be that...a scale representation with which, from any angle, a photo could easily be mistaken for the "real" airplane. I think Vailly makes a fine kit which is easily built and satisfies most modelers' desires for a giant, almost scale, Birddog that you can run into a garage door with little fear of dinging it. Just don't try foisting it off as a "Scale" aircraft and telling me minor detail changes will make it so. A major redesign and rekitting, maybe, but no band-aids are going to make the Vailly Birddog a truly, scale aircraft.

If you're going to do it, do it right...do your best!