I think it would be lightning responsible and nimble with a short travel forks! As you can see I build mine fairly heavy for All Mountain duties (mix of tarmac, XC, fast rocky downhills, even bike park) and must admit that due to geo and long forks it feels the best going down. XC is quite a work out on this setup but I'm sure swapping the tyres to something weighting at around 600-650g would make a massive difference (currently running Hans Dampf both front & rear which are tough, wide and grippy but very heavy, 850g each).
What are you planning to use the bike for? Have you considered any other steel frames?

 I ordered a 20" frame. I looked at some other steelies but for the money I don't think this can be beat. Right now I am running a 22" GT hardtail and it's just too long and tall for some of the hairy descents of BC, especially the North Shore. I like the idea of a smooth steel ride. Now that I have ordered the frame though, I'm very hard pressed to decide what I want to run for forks. I could get an external, reducing bottom cup in the headset and run my 1-1/8 steerer, 4" travel, QR axle RockShox XC32 forks but I feel like they're pretty flexy. On hard corners and especially during heavy braking my tire actually shifts over and rubs on the left side of the fork arch. So I am toying with the idea of a fork with a 20mm through axle, since I have an old 20mm hub kicking around from back in the day. Other options are forks with 15mm. Tough to decide where to throw my money. Trails are very all-mountain style around my area. The focus is on the downhill, but I still need to be able to pedal up or through the mountains to get to that point! Considering either a new Manitou Tower Pro 140mm with the 15mm axle, new RS Revelation RL Dual Air 130mm with 20mm axle, or a used Fox 34 CTD 150 15mm. Just realizing that this low-caliber XC32 is not going to stand up to my 200-lb, high-caliber riding style, figure I might want to upgrade. Or should I just try it with the XC32 and then decide?

 To be honest I would've crapped that quick release forks. Going 20mm axle will give you plenty of stiffness (providing your rims are also fairly beefy). The reveletion RL forks are excellent from my experience - I bought mine reasonably priced from CRC and according to a measuring tape they are actually 140mm travel. Whatever you will get out of the box (130 or 140mm) they will be the best bang for the bucks. The head angle, as you can see from the picture, is still acceptable and the bike will happily ride up the hills (not like some other AM full sus rigs with 66deg HA) plus you will have the easy to use compression lock-out.
Go for it! Build that beast and enjoy!

 I decided I'm just going to try it with the XC32, if I don't like it I can always upgrade. I've only got a few weekends left of riding before winter is on full tilt, so I'm not even going to start swapping parts around until 2014. Thanks for your input. I'll post some pics when I get er up and running.

 No probs. Good luck with it and take it easy!

 thanks! hahaha !!! could't agree more More I look at it I think there is some style in that nasty beast too.

 Thank you. Hoping for many pleasant hours of use

 Holy moly she is looking proper mate! RideOn BigWig!

 Thanks. Yes it's 18", but looks and feels compact to me, which was the reason I have abandoned the choice of the smaller version.

 How tall are you? I've been debating between a 18" and 20".

 178cm / 5'10"