ORIGINAL: Gray Beard

First call FGS about the cowl and see if the problem was in the plug/mold itself or if there was some other problem. The product I use for filling glass cowls with holes or seams is <span style="font-size: x-small"><span style="color: #ff0000">Bondo Glazing spot putty</span></span>, easy on with light coats and easy to sand, good stuff!!
Ground handling on the Smith is just like any short coupled planes, hell on the ground but after you get used to the plane it's just the nature of the beast, you have to slowly roll on power and get the ground speed up, never just fire wall it. Once in the air it's pretty much like any other plane, bipes just slow down faster when you chop power. Landing the Smith isn't hard, it's smooth and slow but then after roll out you have to steer it back into the pits, ground handling again!!.
It's a fun plane and a fun build, just not a good choice for a first bipe but if you have enough hours on the sticks you can figure it out. I had to pull the OS .46 out of mine and install the OS .70FS but it was just to get rid of some of the nose lead I added to get the CG.