first, as with exeter and gjeffers, haven't heard great things about GSP. but the CMP CE, which GSP sells, is okay. it's construction is reasonably light. i don't know how you got 18lbs but at 16lbs it wasn't that light but flew still fine. the biggest problem i had was with the cartoonish pattern. the skyshark version is much better looking IMHO. i just looked at the GSP site. THE PICTURES ARE NOT OF THE ACTUAL ARF! the only one that shows the pattern of the real ARF is the picture of the unbuilt kit. THAT is the pattern. BEWARE!!!