best beginner balsa scratchbuild ?

There are lots of 'slab sided' designs out there. One of the best places to browse plans that I have found is Outerzone ( http://www.outerzone.co.uk/index.asp ) That looks like a nice collection of wood, there to start with. One tool you might want to invest in is a Balsa Stripper. The one by Master Airscrew runs about $9.00. The glues you already use will be fine, and CA glues are a nice addition. Start with a little HLG to get used to the material.
Here are a few examples:
http://www.outerzone.co.uk/plan_details.asp?ID=5091
http://www.outerzone.co.uk/plan_details.asp?ID=2632
http://www.outerzone.co.uk/plan_details.asp?ID=12
http://www.outerzone.co.uk/plan_details.asp?ID=2613
Avoid scale plans at first, also look out for sharp curves and non-square fuselages. Curved sheet parts are not a big deal if you wet the wood first.
Good luck and enjoy!

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Apart from some efforts 45+ years ago with a control-line combat wing - it flew for about 0.3 seconds before embedding itself in the ground, and put me off model flying for most of the intervening 45+ years, I know very little about building planes in balsa.
BUT - I am familiar with the material and some of its limitations.
Foam board you can pretty well cut in any direction, and with the sloppiest of techniques, and still get a useable result - not true with balsa.
Any natural material - like balsa - can be harder to work with than man-made materials.
First you've got grain to consider, which affects how you cut, and in which direction (to avoid splitting the wood.) There’s also variations in density and structure – some parts are soft and some more brittle. You need to understand how and where to use the material to best effect.
Don’t get me wrong, there's been a few times where I could have used balsa in my foam board builds if I'd had any to hand - instead I botched along with MDF, ply or popsicle sticks!
Most of the modern balsa build kits I've seen advertised feature pre-cut sections for the 'tricky bits'. Yes people do cut all their own formers, but unless you have a laser cutter this can be a time consuming, labour and skill intensive task.
I'd suggest you keep building in foam board and use this balsa as an enhancement material for reinforcing spars and laminating with foam panels - and maybe the odd rudder and elevator.
For a great example of composite foam/balsa construction see this article;
http://www.flitetest.com/articles/foam-board-1938-lanzo-bomber
I thought wizard122 made brilliant use of balsa, mixing it with the foam board to produce a great model.
If you’re keen to build in balsa, I suggest you choose a simple pre-cut kit and build up your material skills and knowledge first before attempting a complete scratch build.
Still, I’m keen to see what others suggest. All the best.

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I designed 2 a long time ago for 1/2a glow power(.049) They are simple and proven designs for intermediate flyers both have been adapted to electric and slope and can be very fast if powered up. You can download them in pdf format for free here and take a look: http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/member.php?u=65919
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The swift wing is built a lot like people are building with foam now using balsa wood. The Javlin is built up originally with foam ribs but 1/16" ribs cut from the profile work great too.
You may notice the plan view of the swift looks a bit like an F-15 because I borrowed it from a sloper I designed built and sent to friend living in Torrie (sp) Pine CA in the late 80s.
The Javlin was a 1/2A racer design from the early 80s.
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Questions like this are better posted in the forum, and NOT published as an article.

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