I have been flying the US60 for this being my third season. I learned how to fly and crash with this plane, a true floater. Here are some things I've done over the last versions....

Version 1
GMS .76 Engine, No Gyro, Recovered after a few flights due to "Rat Grass", Futaba 6X Radio, Tricycle Gear

Version 2
YS110 Engine, Not Recovered, No Gyro, Futaba 9C 2 Stsick, Tail Dragger

Version 3
YS 100 Engine, Recovered Nicely, Ruder Gyro and Auto Pilot, Modified 9C to Single Stick, Tail Dragger

There are purists that say gyros are not needed butthey dont hurt. I love flying but Crashing puts a damper on that , so I installed the gyros and autopilot to save me from gravity problems. The GMS .76 was awfull to tune, the YS was hard to learn to tune, but the help of Dave Shadel, we made it happen. The stock covering on the US60 is nicely done in the factory, but the attitude of the plane is hard to see when the sun is behind it. That is why I crashed last season, when I lost orientation I paniced and sent it into the ground but cross controlling it.

Here are some pics..

Loved mine.
Stock covering, split ailerons (rarely used), Magnum .91FS engine.
Coloring, while *****in on the ground sucks with the sun behind it for sure.
Lost due to dumb thumbs during full throttle inverted dive. SPLASH!
Picture here of it carrying a wireless video system. Video can be found on my site.

Here is the first of 3 for me too I have always flown it with an OS61FX and guess I never had any problems with the covering as all 3 are/were stock. I still have the 3rd one and fly it once in a while. I liked the design so much that I bought the US lite and put on a G-26 for a power plant. (see pics)

The history of my US 60's is: First one was a dumb thumb move. I was doing aileron rolls and came out inverted. My thumbs did the right thing and started to push forward to gain altitude, but my brain got in the way and I pulled back only to drill it right into the ground. I decided I wanted a second one and went to the LHS where they had one already assembled and only $10.00 more than the ARF. Since it had upgraded hardware, I bought it and also used the OS61 for power. I would probably still have it, but in a split "s" I was about 3/4 of the way through and the right wing completely separated from the rest of the plane. I was only at about 1/2 throttle, so I knew I hadn't put too much strain on the design. Well after a close inspection, it was discovered that on the right side of the wing joiner, very little epoxy had gotten between the joiner and the wing support spar. So when the extra stress hit the wing, the joiner and spar separated right along the joint. On my third, I made sure this part will not separate.

I figure to get a second one in the near future.
Will do something about the see thru covering.
Will go for full pull pull on elevator and rudder.
Will beef up the landing gear mount.
Will bash the rudder/fin to a counter balanced setup like all the other versions of this ARF are made now.
Will go for an aftermarket tail wheel setup, probably Sullivan.
Will try not to impact with Mother Earth.

I've seen some other US 60's on the forum and they just covered over the transpearant sections with a solid color. That was an option I would have chosen if it were summer and I wanted to get flying faster.

Please explain this counter balenced control surface? I have heard this quite offten as of late...

biplanecrasher - you can just see the counterbalance rudder in the picture of my US Lite. It is the part of the rudder that extends over the top of the vertical fin. In my picture the rudder is turned just a little to the side so you can see it.

Well, the vertical fin is shorter and the rudder extends over the top of the fin.
In this picture of my FuntanaS 40, both the rudder and elevator are counter balanced. Its easy to see on the elevator but not so obvious on the rudder.
The "D" in design on the tail is split by the top of the fin and the counter balance of the rudder. Makes for a VERY effective rudder.

Here is a counter balanced rudder on a US 120 Lite
Ron