RE: H.O.B kits any good?
They really are good kits. A useful change I made to the wings was to substitute 1/8" sq spruce for the spars, vice 1/8" sq balsa. Little bit of weight gain, HUGE strength gain. I added 1/32" sheet webs to one of them once, but didn't see a big difference in stiffness.
Speaking of the 1/2A Pete, I still have one I built years ago, powered with a Golden Bee. The fuselage on this design is totally overbuilt. Couple that with heavy wood, and you end up with a dog as I did. [:'(]
John