Having worked on Bearcats at Jacksonville and on the Carrier, I would say so far so good. Now the prototype had a brace in the rear of the canopy. But the Blue Angels (The Naval Flight Exhibiion Team as it was called then), they got some of the first F8s and they didn't have a brace in the canopy. I would leave it off.
The other thing is they had a new car shine to them. Don't put no fogged up shine on it. Finally, the airplane was rather small and the pilots head filled the cockpit. Don't put some ten year old pilot at the stick.
I'm glad somebody who knows what they are doing is making this grand airplane. When the first one that landed at Jax he beat up the runway and you should have seen the Hellcat drivers standing in awe of it. The Bearcats put on a show in front of you, that the jets have yet to copy.