It was just brought to my attention that I had forgot to introduce myself.

So here goes. I am a modeler from the age of 7 when I ruined my first plastic model kit, an A4 Skyhawk. Been doing my thing ever since, I will be 41 in May. So a lot of years in the hobby. I have done and still do planes, boats, and cars. Mostly panes and boats, I keep a couple cars around for when the mood strikes. Started out with free flight then control line 1/2a stuff. Lots of cox .049s lol. Got into RC in high school. Built my first kit, and RPM Barnstormer 25L at 14, soloed on my second plane, an Eagle 2 at 16 and have been flying since. Took a 4 yr break sort of while in the navy, I did have one ARF trainer but it got crashed and I just didn't replace it. Got back into it after the Navy and got big into 3D and profile fuse planes as they are fast to build and not to pretty so don't make you cry when you crash em. I had  BUSA Taube 40 in highschool, but never was happy with it, squint scale at best, I have always loved the WW1 and Golden age stuff the most. I have finally gotten tired of the idiocy in the 3D and mainstream RC communities so I am going to go ahead and work towards my childhood dream of being invited to the Masters. Even if I come in dead last, it will be an honor just to compete. I may never make it, but I am going to try. I am starting with a BUSA 1/4 scale DR1 just to get feet wet, it will give me something to fly at competitions in the sport or stand off classes and get me used to competing. I plan to build a Proctor kit or another BUSA with lots of mods to get it into better scale class, then after that I want to start building the competition bird for expert class. It will probably be either a proctor or GTM kit with whatever mods I have to make to match it to the documentation. Any and all help will be happily considered, I can be set in my ways sometimes, but I am usually a pretty good follower of directions, lol. It is my fervent hope that this will be an older more mature community than what I have been seeing on every other airplane site out there. I am tired of the childish stupidity.

As long as it is just modification not total redesign I will be ok, however the problem is I am new at this and will need help in deciding what kit will be the best starting point for me, then I can start gathering all the needed info and peripheral little bits that will be needed so I won't have to keep stopping mid stream. When I get on a roll in the shop I am like a mad scientist. I get an idea and just go with it. I have been known to build for 24+ hrs strait to finish a plane for an event. I remember framing up a profile one night in my buddy's trailer on the flight line, covered I the next morning and flew it that afternoon, why? We showed up early to set up for the event and we were bored, lol. Point is I am not scared of a little work, I just have limited time so want the best chance of success the first go around. Thanks for any advice.

Planes I like and have considered.

Taube. Would of course not be satisfied unless it was a wing/tail warper. Accurate airfoil a plus.

Eindekker. Really neat subject, plus I have a friend that has one slated as his next scale build. Problem is they are maybe too popular.

Fokker D7. I already have a set of usable plans, cant remember who drew them, they are at my friends in Houston so will have to look at them next time I am down there. Not sure how accurate they are. Probbably better off to start with aProctor kit for this subject and be way ahead of the game.

Niuport II. Love the looks, and the performance potential, but not sure how much work it will be to mod a BUSA kit to get what I want, and the Proctor one is just too small. For me 1/4 scale is where its at. Not so big I need a buss to haul it, but big enough to fly well, easy to see, and easier to detail.

Fokker D6. Have to really be sure I want it, as 1/3 scale is a big step up for me. GTM kit.

Fokker D8. Same as above. The BUSA kit is nice but too much work to make it scale I have heard. Pls correct me if I am wrong.

Another consideration is that I like big gas two strokes as they are cheap, reliable, and easy to use. So I wont be doing anything outside my comfort zone there, unless a radial falls in my lap, lo.

Plan is to complete the DR1 and use it for just that, it takes me about 6 months of weekends to find enough spare time to complete a normal build on a sport plane. If I build a profile fuse plane it usually takes me about a month. Problem is I get side tracked often by life, lol. There is always a long Son Do list at home. I live with my parents to help them on bills and do the maint on the house/cars, ect. Driving a rig for a living keeps me gone all week, EVERY week. Weekends is all I have.

That said, it will take the bulk of the winter to build the next bird. Next spring I plan to have a first year contest bird. That is the one I am asking for help choosing. The one after that or maybe two later, will be the one I go full on ALL OUT scaling. However, I want to purchase a kit from either GTM or Proctor before the state of the RC hobby downsizes them again, like GTM, or eliminates them entirely. Look at Horizon and the chapter 11 thing. Also I want to get it while I have the money, it gets tight in the fall winter with trucking slowing down. Think I will do a Junkers D1 next, as I can get a good deal on a kit from a member here. Then start on the GTM or Proctor comp bird. Just need to decide on one. I really like the Proctor D7 and the GTM D8 or D6 just depends on if I want to build more than one wing, lol. I also have a 3W60i that I can use but it would be a bit underpowered on a 1/3 scale. Wonder if I could get a reduction drive for it. MMMM big scale prop.