Umm.... ok. Sounds reasonable. So all this time I spend working to make a super light model is really just a waste of time? Needing a little weight out there to manipulate the controls is understandable, but isn't a lighter model going to perform better better with the available power on it (especially in the vertical)? If you add weight, arn't you giving up some power? Then you have to add more engine to make up the difference.
If the engine power was limited, you would possibly be right. That was pretty much the situation before the mid-late 80s, and people built the airplanes as light as they could to maximize performance. Now, you aren't using the full power of the engine anyway, it's grotesque overkill with almost any modern engine. The Tucker was designed around engines like Fox 35 and Ted's had a Rustler-Merco 40. So, hypothetically you might think you need more power to get it to the top of the circle. And in any case, the design weight of a Nobler (very close, conceptually and dimensionally, to the Tucker) is around 45-46 oz even with a Fox. So its not way over the design weight even with the lead
As it turns out, it actually took *less* power. Ted had been trying to overcome the line tension/control feel issues by flying it faster. That was sort of a self-defeating plan since while it had more line tension, it also took more effort to move the controls. So it was flying around at 4.5-4.6 but still wasn't much better. With the added weight, it was possible to *reduce* the power considerably and fly the airplane much more slowly. maybe 5.25 or 5.3. Slowing it down, it still had the same or more tension as it had when it was light, but the effort required was greatly reduced. To slow it down that much, the *needle had to be opened significantly* - i.e. LESS power, about 65% of what it had been, in level flight.
Of course, if you did a calculation of the minimum possible turn radius, it opened up by about a factor of 20% because the wing loading went up. In practice, the corners tightened up dramatically because now you could use more deflection, and it was nowhere close to running out of lift in either case. Even a Masters-level pilot like Ted can't consistently make "maximum effort"/"minimum radius" corners without messing up something else, to the hypothetical minimum radius doesn't matter at all.
So, adding the weight fixed the issues it was having, and didn't hurt to anything else to noticeable degree. The 47 ounce airplane flew, overall, *much, much better*. It wasn't a matter of opinion, it wasn't subtle, arguable, it was DRASTICALLY superior.
Brett