Anything much over 14 lbs is too much for that airplane if you want decent handling for precision aerobatics. Keeping it close to 13 lbs is ldeal. It's actually quiet capable of keeping up with much larger gas powered stuff, it just has to be kept to a reasonable weight. As far as the mess goes, yeah, goes with the territory I guess. I'll take the mess and shave the weight to get a better flying airplane.