Back to high school physics. Jim is right. A heavier mass is accelerated less by the same force than a lighter mass. However as he stated, the reverse is also true. The same weight airplane with a larger wing (lighter wing loading) is accelerated more by the same gust since the larger wing produces a larger force. As the overall size goes up, the weight goes up but so does the force acting on that weight.

In summary, I stand by my original points, and for the same reasons. To handle gusty wind, an airplane should have:

1. A little less stability
2. Higher wing loading
3. Low drag

Obviously my full size Cherokee can handle wind better than a R/C model and a B-747 can handle more wind than my Cherokee, because there are scale effects involved. However within the size range of our models, overall size is not nearly as important a factor as these three.