Thanks guys - I have read this entire thread, many, many articles on finishing and everything on the CAA forums.

I have already psyched myself up for weight savings I have the scale sitting on the work bench and I have been practicing with my test sheets etc. I am leaning towards silk for the wings after reading more. It seems like a nice compromise between tissue and glass cloth. The only issue being the dope required... but I may be able to heat the garage to apply dope and let it cure for a while before bringing it in the house. The Varathane method also seems to work really well and is super-easy with a really great finish. I may do that on the fuse and silkspan on the wings. I suppose Monokote is not 100% out of the question on the wings.

I want the plane to come out to the heavier side of legal (did I say that out loud???) It is windy ALL THE TIME here. I prefer an over-powered slightly to the heavy side airplane. Maybe in dead calm its not an advantage but it is in any normal condiions. I need to save some room for the inevitable repairs though. We had 2 calm trimming days this sumer here (unless you break the rules and fly at 5am...) I actually drove to Calgary (3 hrs) one day to find some calm air to trim in!

I ship stuff all the time Mike - I am not worried about customs. I have never had them hold anything and only very occasionally they take a peek inside. Most shippers have been very good. I would double-box the bellies though. I just got a box 9ft x 4ft x 3ft at 90lbs with my Bipe inside. They don't care about box size. I ship so much they KNOW me at customs LOL!

I have a TON of potential projects this winter - space is going to be my main issue The Integral is still flying so I have no major rush although I would like to have both planes finished for next season. I also have a warbird to finish (with flite metal which takes a REALLY long time) and a 40% Biplane ARF (which would only take 2 weeks if I had all the stuff.)

I'm really looking forward to these builds.