I've built the Midwest Extra and the Giles. I've got a NIB Midwest Cap on the shelf.

They build heavy. The Extra weighed 17.25 pounds with a 4.5 pound engine on the firewall---and it was TAILHEAVY!!! Can ya believe it?

I was very weight conscious when I built this plane. I replaced the ABS with Fiberglass from Stans. I replaced the hatch and tutledeck sheeting with balsa. I did a few other things, but still didn't like the final wwight of it.

17.25 pounds isn't all that bad, but I was flying at 6000' elevation at the time--and thats too heavy for up there. Sea level it would have been fine.

On the Giles-- I went nuts. I replaced EVERY piece of balsa sheeting in the airplane with contest grade balsa. That alone saved me over 8oz in weight.

I replaced the hatch and turtledeck ply sheeting with contest grade balsa. That was a couple ounces.

I took my dremel and sanding drum to the fuse. I enlarged all the lightening holes in the fuse by sanding them down to only 1/4" thick near the edges and glue joints. That was a LOT of weight. It's all lite-ply in there. I sanded out a BUNCH.

I drilled 3/4" lightening holes in the engine box and the front of the fuse.

I built the wings with a heavy balsa spar wrapped in CF tape. Replacing the Spruce spars saved me 2oz.

I increased the cord of the ailerons by 1". Easy to do when your framing. You just need a couple new pieces of TE stock on the wings and also some larger LE stock for the ailerons. Weight added--maybe a few grams of extra balsa.

I increased the size of the elevators. I added a counterbalance about 1.5" wide on each tip and increased the cord by 1.25" Added an ounce or two

I increased the size of the rudder by 1.5" on the lower side and only .75" on the top.

I bought CF landing gear for it. Saved 3oz.

JR 8231 digitals in each wing. JR 8231 digitals on each elevator. JR 8411 on the rudder. JR 3421 digital on the throttle. RX Battery is 6V 1650mah MH. RX is Hitec 8ch.

Power is a Moki 2.10 with a Cline and a 20oz. tank on the CG. Engine is mounted inverted with an on-board glow system--1400mah niCD.


I've already built the whole plane and installed every nut and bolt once. It weighes 10LBS 2oz. without any covering. Thats a completely mocked-up plane--with fuel tank, horns, servos, extensions, battery, switches--everything except covering and cowl paint.

I figure I'll be around 10.75LBS when it's all done. Vertical performance should be pretty decent.[:-]

It's a fun kit to build and bash. I'm pretty happy with the weight of the Giles. On the Cap--I might redesign the whole fuse to make it lighter. You could replace all the rear section of the fuse with balsa and probably drop 1/2 pound or more. Get rid of the turtledeck ply and the hatch ply. There's another 4--6 ounces. Save the wing saddle and the front end--like the motorbox and the FW. But you gotta be willing to rekit a plane--right outta the box.

Aeroworks still makes a 25% kit of the Edge 540. I've built it. They fly REALLY nice and they don't usually weigh over 10 pounds. Mine was 9.75 pounds RTF with empty tank.

But, my kit cost $275[X(]. Thats WAYYYY too much money for a box of sticks and foam. The turtledeck and rear tail section didn't fit right--and I had to make a piece of foam to take up about 3/4" of space in the tail. You'd think AW could make a kit where all the parts fit right--especially considering how much it costs.

I flew mine with a Moki 180.