my first plane was a gws estarter but i had a lot of problems trying to fly it (no power w/ stock system, tring to learn by myself)
i have since bought a gws slowstick and i can fly it with ease
i also bought a gws formosa but was wondering i should try it as my second "real flying" plane

i have a rimfire 35-30-1250 brushless w/ a 2200 lipo battery
my origional intent was to learn to fly the formosa after tring to fly the estarter with the new power system.
however the c.g. on the estarter was way off w/ my setup with no easy way to fix it (45 degrees off level, forward lean).
so should i try to fix it or just go with the formosa? (my slowstick has alerion mods)

WHICH GWS Formosa do you have?

The "Slope Glider"? ( Formosa II ? )

Or the small Park Flyer EP?

I would guess that you have the Formosa II as that battery would probably be too big for the Parkflyer...

The Rimfire and Battery would seem to be too big for the Estarter.

If power was an issue with the stock brushed motor, you might want to consider using a smaller ~1300mAh LiPo battery with the brushed setup.

You may need to change out the ESC if the one you have does not support LiPo's but many do... e.g. the Electrifly Brushed ESC's support LiPo's by moving the berg jumper.

This would increase the voltage resulting in more power, while upping the run time. Since LiPo's are lighter, it would not overload the plane as well.

The formosa has massive following and almost acheived cult status for being a good and yet cheap and easy to repair aerobatic plane but it's probably too much as a second plane but maybe a good 3rd on low rates.
Personally I'd try and get the E-starter going with a approx 120 watt motor which should be that much lighter and get some cheap 1300 mAh Lipo's from somewhere like hobby city to go with it, both of which should reduce weight and you'll hopefully get the CoG right then.

I have the first formosa (smaller one ep i think0
I put everything in it and it balanced perfectly (motor and batt) the only thing I did differently was not put the batt in the stock spot but where the esc and radio was suppost to go (put the radio and esc by the alerion servo) its a bit heavy but not horrible

what I was thinking to do for the estarter is cut the motor mounting stick (to bring the motor closer the the c.g) and use a smaller 8.4 gws 750mah nimh batt and put it between the servos that should balance it

I know I won't get the power of a 11.1 lipo but will it damage my motor in any way (i don't think so)