RE: curare restoration
Chris,
it's hard to gauge your wing weight with equipment in it as we don't know how much that weighs. A good weight for a ready to finish 60 size wing without gear is somewhere in the 22-26 oz ballpark - 22 is excellent, 26 is ok.
If your gear (servos and landing gear) combined weigh 10 oz or more, then you have a good wing since it will be 26 oz or less (at the moment it stands at 36 oz with gear). Assuming your fuse/empennage AUW will be 5.5 lbs max, then this allows a 3 lb max AUW for the geared wing for an 8.5 lb model (less is better of course). In any event, given your wing stands at 36 oz now, unless you add an enourmous amount of weight with the finish, you should be able to produce a finished sub 3 lb (48 oz) wing.
I'd suggest that if you want to paint it, glass it also. Otherwise, sand it down smooth and cover wing, stab & rudder and glass and paint fuse and fin. Covering the wing and stab typically results in a lighter model albeit perhaps not as slick or durable as an all painted one.
The 61 RF is a beautiful engine and would be perfect for the Curare assuming you're happy with a side mounted engine with pipe running down the side of the fuse (typically, they had the pipe under the fuse).
David.