I hope the op comes back an lets us know if he solved the problem with the wind and what he did to rectify the problem. I know what works for me and when adding ballast is going to be an improvement. I'm satisfied with my models performance during competition and will continue to do what works for me. I also share this with any who are interested and surprising enough they seem to do well too. Heck during the 2002 World Scale Championships there were days when everyone was using ballast if they could even the control line guys were adding weight. Those days the wind was close to the max but the flight line never shut down everyone was expected to fly their round ballast or not. No I wasn't competing I was part of the organizing committee and helped/observed many scrambling to add weight while staying under the max allowed.

In the case of the 40% I never said it had anything to do with increasing the wing loading it was simply a mention that adding weight/ballast to to alter the characteristics and performance of a given air frame is quite common.

The op hasn't posted for some time and your not worth the effort or time so I'm just going to have to say I don't agree and leave it at that. Perhaps if someone else has used ballast it would be enlightening to hear what they have to say on the subject. With your permission of course LOL!

Dennis