I had one of these about 4 or 5 years ago - excellent flying airplane. I did not experience any flying issues or the flutter you talked about, and it was wrung out pretty good. I do use foam model hinge tape over the hinge areas on one side of the surface as Ive been told that it will help with flutter, and also improve the responsiveness of the controls. Can't say that I can confirm that, but so far, no flutter issues.

As for the engine, I used an Irvin 53 on mine with good results. I did have to make some revisions to the tank height as that is critical and the line coming out of the tank must be no higher than even with the needle valve of the engine. If you have room, I would recommend a Perry Pump (a device that works off of crankcase pressure, via addition of a pressure fitting to the crankcase backplatep instead of muffler pressure) and you won't have to worry about tank location and the effect of flooding the engine. Make sure you have the engine low end or idle mixture adjusted properly.

I had no issues with balance with the Irvine in the front. I just moved the battery pack until I got the balance right, and as I recall, it was in the rear of the servo/receiver area.

I did not have to make any changes to the factory down thrust of the engine on mine, and used standard Futaba servos, and made no upgrades to the clevises or pushrods, and I believe I used a 10/6 two-bladed prop, and yes, if memory serves me correctly, a three bladed prop will fly the plane somewhat slower, but may hurt you on performance, and this airplane with a 53 will perform. Mine knife-edge beautifully and vertical was very, very impressive, although not quiet out of sight. Mine was the best at doing a vertical aileron roll with a tailslide finish that I've had to date. To bad that it met with an untimely fate due to a glitch and an encounter with some bushes. I do have one sitting here in a box that I hope to put together sometime.

I would recommend that you consider breaking up the color scheme on the bottom as the top and bottom look identical, making it difficult to determine if inverted or not unless you keep it very close to you.

"Experience is a hard teacher. She always gives the test first, and the lesson some time later!"

Phillip