Funtana 90 or Shock flyer?

I see Spinners point, and agree. If you get the Shocky, you can't scratch build different planes for the same gear. (at least not that I've seen, I'm sure you could, just not as easy) Spend the $ on a Brushless 20mm motor/SC and servos and you can build $10 airplanes all year.

Not to bust on the Shocky, I know they fly great. But I've gone through 6 airframes this year (since spring) and I've not hardly had time to even fly them this last 6 weeks.

I don't know crap about the Evo engines, but they sure are getting a following. First time I saw one other than on a trainer my nose turned up, "Ooh, what's that nasty thing doing on a 3D plane...." Then the kid did like 6 tail dips in the pond where I floated my Taco, and I was like "Hey, that things AWSOME!"

I bet that engine would be hot on the soon to come Katana 70 profile of the weight isn't too high!

Well, I have both the Funtana 90 and a Shocky. The money I put into each isn't even close, so I wouldn't bother comparing them. The shocky is a $350 plane. The Funtana is around $1500 with my Saito 180 and all the high dollar servos. I assume you want spectacular 3D performance from each, so you'll probably need to spend about that much with either to get it right. I've posted in a few threads on RCU so you can see all my growing pains with both planes if you care to.

One word of advice on the shocky motor -- go with an outrunner. Gearboxes really suck. The Axi is a nice motor, but a tube type mount leads to a stronger nose. I have the Nippy Black 0808/98 on mine and still love it. If you dont' ever crash, then the engine mount method is not an issue, but the gearboxes are still noisy, heavy and power robbing.

We assume you want to fly indoors, correct? (what if you get another record snowfall this year, like last year!)

If you have a nice big indoor place to fly, then you can go with about any setup you like for the Shocky. Anywhere from 5.5 oz to 8 oz. Over 8 oz and the shocky doesn't fly very well anymore. Lighter setups cost more, and you may be better served with a bigger plane if money is an issue --say in the 10 to 14 oz range. the Foamfactory (fanfold type) planes fill this bill well . My local gym is really small, and a light shocky is the only thing which really performs in this tight space. All other planes are forced to just fly around in circles or hover in 1 spot.

Someone once described the flight of a shocky as "dreamy". I can't imagine a better description. A very light shocky floats around like it's almost flying under water if you can imagine that. It flys "big" in this way when compared to sthe giant scale stuff. You've probably seen videos of the ETOC guys doing their thing. Most of their setups were actually heavy compared to state of the art stuff, cause they were sponsored pilots using all JR or other big name equipment. You can do better than that now. I belive it will be a LONG TIME before anything comes around to eclipse the performance of good light built shocky. Motors, servos and batteries will get lighter but it's very difficult to imagine a material better than 3 mm depron. If you can spend the bucks, go for the lightest setup you can, and you'll love the shocky.