I balance my 80" wingspan Extra 300 on my fingertips.

My wife helps me pick it up and get it flipped over(upside down). Then I put my index fingers on the wings--right up close to the fuselage and hold it there while my wife adds 1/4oz. lead weights here or there to determine balance.

I determine if it's tail-heavy or nose-heavy and then remove all the lead weights and turn the plane back right-side up and start moving the batteries around.

I don't have a CG machine. I've always balanced my planes with my fingertips, and never screwed up yet.

I usually take a piece of blue masking tape--about 2" long--and stick it down on the wing, where the CG should be. Then you can put a ball-point pin mark, on the tape, right where you want it to balance.

When you pick it up and start balancing--you've always got a reference mark on the tape. You can put 2 or 3 marks on the tape if you want. One mark for a forward (nose-heavy) CG and one for a neutral CG, and one mark for a rearward (tailheavy) CG.