Welllllll, I got my Bearcat flying, but flyablity wasn't all that I'd hoped for.  One on my flying buddies suggested that I might be better off modifying one of my many old Slow Combat planes, which fly quite well but don't have a current mission.

So I did just that.  Armed with a damaged Slow and a Profile Publication of the Fairey Fulmar, I put this together.  The covering is Oracoat from Balsa USA (who is also the source of the wood in this and all my planes).  The covering is great for bare foam and wood, but too light for open work, except maybe 1/2A's.   Part of the fuselage is painted with Behr epoxy, color-matched to the Oracoat by Home Depot.

Thus far I've just been flying on 10% to get things trimmed out.  No numbers to speak of yet.

The Behr paint is white garage floor epoxy.  While called "epoxy", it's only one part.  I bought a gallon at Home Depot and had them split it into four quarts.  I then had them scan four different colors of iron-on film and tint the quarts to match.  The color came out perfect except that it's matte finish.  The whole deal cost about $50.

For a lot of projects, matte is just what you want.  Fuel proofing is good.  Better than any of the current options, except 2-part epoxy.   It's kinda heavy, so I limit to use to nose areas.   To achieve a matching gloss and perfect fuel protection, I sacrificed a tea spoon full of my hoard of genuine Hobby Poxy clear.