I've seen airplanes a bit on the heavy side fly quite well. Every Vector 40 ARF, for instance, I've seen (I've seen a few) flew great. Very competitive. Doubt the balsa was first class. The biggest problems with these ARFs and others are the peel away covering and sometimes soft motor mounts. Same with many of the other early ARFs too. Even Cardinals, and other first generation ARFs, were light enough to fly well. It was the covering and sometimes soft front ends (setting up difficult to dampen vibrations) that was the biggest down side. IMHO. The package, despite that, is a bargain that has great flying potential. As for competition quality balsa wood, Cardinals use a plywood slabbed fues (with big cutouts). So. The fues wood weight isn't much of an issue. Not that much balsa in the plane, behind the trailing edge. I've never seen the big solid stab create a tail heavy bird. Don't know that anyone weighed that wood.
Topic: NEW ARF's ??? (Read 1782 times)
