Ben, the carnage is typical of a scale contest, with labors of love attempting their first (and frequently last) flight.
There was one plane which went perfectly vertical on lift off.. the pilot (a guest pilot provided by SAE) managed to save it... barely..
When the designer was asked "where is the c.g.?", he said "what is this c.g. you speak of?"
With zero nose ahead of the wing, the c.g. was back by the trailing edge.
Many pounds of lead later, it was moved forward to a barely acceptable position.. The plane got off the ground, but ISTR it failed downwind..
I remarked to the pilot, "This makes you an ace this weekend, John... that's the fifth plane you've been flying that crashed."..
In reality, if he couldn't fly it, no one could.
We gots world-class "guest pilots" here..