Hello. Last night I did some studying and that is what I found. I agree 100%. No holes! However, I discovered another way to lose weight and not hurt strength much. Quoting Tony Montana, I said, "Say hello to my little friend" and pulled out my mouse sander and 80 grit pad. I sanded a taper on the fuselage on the top and bottom and tapered the front top and bottom at the nose to where a 2 1/4" spinner could be used. (I used table sander to do that.)
Okay, now for the moment of truth. The bare airframe without horns, pushrod, engine, landing gear, motor, tank, weighs 21 ounces and some change. Is that within useful range?
Thanks
You are worrying about this FAR TOO MUCH!. Just build it and it comes out how it comes out. You haven't done anything to make it excessively heavy, it will be fine well up into the low 50's, and you are headed to the low-mid 40's. You have a modern 40, you have such overkill power compared to the original Fox 35, you an handle A LOT of weight.
I might even suggest you throw away the scales and don't check it any more. Weight does matter some, but I have yet to see an airplane that was unflyable strictly due to weight as long as the engine ran properly and it was in-trim. I have seen *lots* of airplane that were super-light, but nonetheless flew like crap because of inappropriate trim or engine setup - or that fell apart in a few dozen flights.
The obsession with weight, particularly with beginners/low-time pilots, is a toxic notion in stunt, lots of people give up pre-emptively or make themselves miserable worrying about weight, when the things that matter - accuracy of construction/workmanship, control systems, trim, and engine setup are afterthoughts.
Build the airplane the best you can, finish it the best you can, it balances where it balances, add weight to the nose or tail to balance it properly (start at about 20% of the average chord) regardless of how much it is, then trim it. You may run into limitations due to weight eventually, but not now, and predict (after doing this to varying degrees of attention for 50+ years) that you will outgrow the airplane or build another one long before you get to the point that 3-4 ounces matter to you.
Weight does matter, to an extent, but after reading back through this thread, I think you are applying far to much relevance to weight in what appears to be a perfectly good job that is about the norm for these sorts of airplanes. Carry on the good work, and I wasn't kidding - put the scales away and just build it.
Brett