Does anyone have a recommendation for an alternative to the Midwest Super Stearman Kit? I'm a little apprehensive to put that kind of time and money into a kit with such mixed construction and flight reviews. And the severe tail-heaviness tendancies are also a big a concern. Otherwise, I'd be all over the MW kit as I love the looks and the size is ideal. I'm as much into building as flying, so an ARF is not even a consideration.
Thanks.

Most guys I've talked to about the Midwest kit love it. They tell me that if you like to build it's a great kit and challenge. Once built they are super flyers.

The actual Stearman was designed for a big heavy radial engine. Therefore, short nose-long tail. To get a fairly accurate model of the plane you have to follow the same outline. Most models come out tail heavy, and I've found this to be true of the Midwest, Sterling, Royal, and Ziroli designs. Expect to add lead to the nose, or strap on a heavy engine (ie Nick Ziroli flys the 77" stearman with a 7.5 pound Robart radial). The one exception is possible the Flair (1/4 scale) which is designed around the relatively light Laser 4 cycle engines and uses very light construction techniques. The new Great Planes Super Stearman might be another exception, but I haven't seen one yet.

Even with the extra nose weight most of these models still fly very well if set up properly.

I believe Balsa USA used to kit a 1/3 Super Stearman. You may be able to find one at a swap shop.

I'd recommend the Flair Stearman kit. A bit larger then the midwest kit and it's a builders kit. But everything that I've read or heard is very positive. I'm building one of there smaller models and so far the building proccess has been good. I have there Tiger Moth kit also and will get to that as time allows.
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Thanks for the great references!

As much as I'd love to build something like the Flair kit, a project like that is both size and cost prohibitive. I need to keep it in the range of 1/5 or 1/6 scale. I'm looking at this project as another plane or 2 down the runway as I still need some more stick time before I'd attempt to fly something like that.

How does the Midwest kit fare with a small gas engine? Would a G-23 or G-26 offset the balance issues with appropriate power?

I may be biased, but I've built the 77" Ziroli and put a ST3000 and 2 1/2 lbs of lead on the firewall, the smalles Stearman I have is 52" and I put a K&B .61 with a tuned pipe on it - no additional weight, the 67" Sterling's I've built need something like a .78 Fox to balance without any lead. When I build another 1/4 scale, I'll go with something like a G-38 or 42 to balance it without additional weight. There is SOME room in the front of the fuse for additional fuel tanks or smoke oil tanks, but that'll change the CG as its used.

If you want an inexpensive kit, try and find a Sterling (any of the 3 versions I know about). They take enough time to build that you'll probably be an adequate flyer by the time its done, they're relatively inexpensive (figure $200 plus engine by the time you're done), and they're robust IF you don't hit sideways on the nose. Forget the maple engine mounts and use a standard firewall mount.

Another thing to do it to replace heavy balsa in the tail with a better grade, sand everything down to minimum, use the tail wires to support it. Another thing is the real Stearman had 3 degrees positive incidence on the tail, 3 degrees postivie on the lower wing (I use zero degrees here) and 4 degrees positive on the upper wing. As you can see, the plane is supposed to fly on the wings and tail and not be dragged up by the engine.