So I've put a few flights on the Extra.

Takeoffs - Uneventful, and the ST140 (2300) will rip it off the ground, no problem.

Flying - Very fast, very tolerant of wind (because it weighs a ton), did I mention it is fast? Flew in a nasty crosswind yesterday, and could not even tell once I was in the air, it just tracks right through it. 1/2 throttle is fast, full throttle is ballistic. I went from a 16X8 to an 18X6 and it's still cruzing. Not that it's a problem.... Aerobatics are very straight. Does nice slow rolls. Will snap pretty bad out of a loop with too much elevator. I think it might be nose heavy also, dives a bit when inverted. Going to move the battery pack aft a bit before next flight.

Landings - It's a handful to land. Have to keep speed up or it stalls. However if you land any other way than perfect at speed it bounces so high you might as well go around. I have had about 5 landings and gone through 4 ply landing gear plates. The mounting rails and everything else in the fuselage is holding up. The problem is that the gear is 2-piece and when you come down hard it wants to pull the center of the ply plate down, and it snaps. I've added a 1/8" aluminum brace plate across the gear halves to maybe help avoid breaking it again. Then again I might just move the damage up into the rails. Which would be a pain in the ass.....

Honestly, I'm not thrilled with the way this thing flies overall. We are spoiled nowadays, any ARF you buy at this size today will likely weigh about 6 or 7 pounds and fly on a .75, this thing is over 10 pounds (probably more like 11, honestly have not weighed it yet) and calls for at least a 1.20.... The manual said that their 'prototype' came in at 10.5 pounds. For pattern aerobatics it's great, but even then it seems to be ready to snap out if you're not careful. 3D, it has the power to hover but with the tiny (scale?) ailerons and 'normal' size elevator and rudder, does not really have the throws to pull off anything interesting. Plus the landings are really a handful. I am going to see what moving the CG back slightly does for landing speed and the snapping issue, and take it from there. I'd like to just bring it home one time with the landing gear system still intact......

Attached a pic of the new brace (and LG plate #4, or #5, I lose count....)