Stick with the CG as per the book. It flies very well at that setting. The only thing to play with is the aileron travel... its a bit twitchy according to the #'s they provide.

I know of a Stingray that was flown relatively nose-heavy and the pilot ran out of elevator travel when it slowed down on landing. As for batteries, I'm running a 4-cell 1400mAh pack on the RX and a 6-cell 1700mAh on the ECU. Its a bit tricky but you can balance the works without the need for any balance weight. The heavier items are all mounted immediately in front of the Jet Tech tanks on mine.

Kelly