Just an update on this plane. Man o Man she flys great, a lazy flyer, slow roller, but nice and stable. Fun to take off and land on water and plenty of power to just fly and have fun. Not an aerobatic master, but it can hold its own performing basic aerobatics. One thing I need to recommend and do myself is seal the outside of the balsa before covering as this model is a wet one and I am noticing that water is getting through the Ultracote causing the covering to wrinkle in spots. I believe you can just coat the bare balsa with polyurethane, just one coat, and that will take care of sealing the wood, then cover with Ultracote. One day I will strip the covering and do this, but I only fly two batteries at a time then hanger it for a while, so it is not a big deal right now.
The other issue with this plane is ESC heat as the ESC is sealed in the fuse with no air circulation as the plane gets wet and I haven't figured out a way to vent it without water getting inside. Right now, as long as I fly in low temps below 70 deg F, it is ok for an 8 min flight and the ESC gets to around 140-160f. But, if it is a warm day, like over 70, the ESC will jump up to 160 and above and that makes me a little nervous. I am running a Castle ESC with telemetry, so the temps are accurate and it is a bomb proof ESC that is way over rated for the amp draw and that is probably why they recommended a higher amp ESC for the build.