RE: Looking for the right plane.
I was really suprised last weekend by the agility, speed, and aerobatics of the "Twisty". I'd never seen one flown before. And this one only had a .46 E-Flite engine on it -> this particular plane was slightly modified originally for a .60, but the .60 he had gave up the ghost one afternoon.... It went UP in a beautiful rocket-like climb and then STRAIGHT back down into the planet like a missle.... But he and another guy at the club both told me that when the .60 was on that plane it would shoot straight up like it was heading for orbit and pretty much wouldn't stop until he let off! The pilot of the Twisty was a really good pilot and he was running high speed, low level inverted passes, "floaty" knife edge flying, snaps, whip-tight loops, and all kinds of neato aerobatics plus when he opened it up, it absolutely screamed! (he did lament the loss of the .60, but he was also really happy with the way the .46 was performing; he hadn't flown it with the .46 before last wekend). I'm not sure if it's exactly what you're really looking for, but it might be worth checking out. Those big square looking wings really keeps it up in the air and the lightweight design let it boogie when the throttle is opened up!