ORIGINAL: cutaway
A healthy LA .46 propped correctly should be capable of flying a WM Skyraider with authority unless you got unlucky and have one that's made out of iron wood (which happens on occasion with ARF's). A clapped out LA .46 might be marginal.
The sky raiders weight is right at the manuals 5lbs. ( a touch under )
I bought the LA .46 used on a Cherokee plane. Not sure of it's condition other than it runs nice but seems to spit fuel more than my other engines ?
The 2 long screws holding the tail together weigh 6.11 grams total, the epoxy I would use to glue the tail weighs about 1.5 to 2 grams.
This would cut 4 -5 grams from the tail. To keep the current CG I would then have to remove " 3 times " that weight from the nose.
That would remove roughly 2oz overall weight (minimum) from the plane.
For now I,m going to keep the screws, save the most weight by moving the battery into the engine compartment, play with props and see how it flys. I will then add 2 - 3 oz weight over the CG just to see what impact that much weight makes. If I CAN feel the affect of that amount of weight I will consider removing the tail screws and epoxying the tail.....
Thanks for all the input...
Steve