I'm curious about your statement "since nitro has been hard to come by locally."

I live in Garland and it is easy for me to find glow fuel. I guess if I wanted to mix my own it might be slightly inconvenient, but, Mike's Hobby Shop in Carrollton had gallon jugs of pure nitromethane on the shelf when I was there in April.

In premade fuels, Mike carries Cool Power, Omega, Powermaster, Ritch's Brew, and Wildcat. Possibly others, but I remember seeing these.

A '60 size' trainer will handle quite a bit of wind. I have a Great Planes PT-60 with a Magnum 91 four stroke. It is kit built with no dihedral in the wing and is a tail dragger. It handles the local winds very well. The recommended four stroke is a 70 but the 91 works very well. This particular kit tends to build tail heavy so using a slifghtly heavier engine reduces the nose weight needed for balancing. Even when it is very hot and humid, there is plenty of power.