Hi Frank;
You may be surprised on how well it will fly. I don't think you posted a total weight, did you? There is a guy named Jason Pearson, who lives in down state Illinois, who had a Twister that he and his Dad had built, entirely out of PINE! It weight 65 ounces or something like that, but looked pretty nice! Blue iron on covering and white paint. But it would fly a respectable pattern and I have seen it fly several times. Brett Buck has seen it, I think! Yours might not be a contest winner, but if you like it and it flies well enough for you, you bought a winner for 25 bucks!
I plan to build some kind of model and paint it white, just to test a method of finishing that friend of mine has done, and that is "doping the dope." As you finish the model, and you are doing the clear dope build ups, tint the dope with a splash of white. As you do the subsequent coats, you are building up a nice, opaque finish. Mu son Sean did this on his Don Hutchenson T-6 stunter with pleasing results. It should work with any color, but I guess is best worth the effort on the lighter colors that don't cover well.
Keep us posted on the first flights.
Type at you later,
Dan McEntee