Hi Glen, as you may be aware I use a fast imaging Newt but a
high end commercial unit and it performs very well...for a homemade job however, I recon you can't go past Rolf Olsens two amazing OTA's he has built in recent years and used to great effect:
10 inch Rolfoscope
12 inch Rolfoscope
Rolo will have all the wisdom to impart to you but to me the stuffiness (NZ speak for stiffness) of the focuser to OTA connection is very important with imaging Newts and can not be underestimated for holding collimation across the sky as is a very rigid tube design
You may not want to go down his quirky guitar string spider road though
Mike