Andrew

You won't need a 600 mAh battery and can save some weight if you look at something in the NiMH 350 to 400 mAh range - should come in around 1 oz. The SST fuselage is a little boxy, but about the only place you can put it on a diet is in wood selection (not really an option if you're using the kit wood) and hollowing out the blocks in the nose area.

The wing is the killer. The foam used during that era is dense and the wing is partially sheeted to boot. You could go with a fully built-up wing - not a big step up from sheeting the foam core. If that's not appealing, you might consider hogging out the foam in the rib bays, either with a hot wire or cutting out large circles using a tin can with one end sharpened.

What are your plans for covering?

With some care in weight savings, the NORVEL should give you a sporty plane, but without unlimited vertical. I have a Honker (similar in size to the SST) with a NORVEL .061 C/L engine that's a decent flyer. It's R/E, but does loops, rolls, immelmans and split-S's without a problem.

I've attached a pic of a SST that was posted by the late Lynn Sipes several years ago.

andrew