I would say you're balanced if the plane will stay at an attitude when placed there on your machine. As agreed, this is a mid wing plane which does make it a little touchy on a balance beam because the point at which you balance from is so close to the middle of the vertical weight center as well. With a high wing you get plenty of pendulum effect when balancing right side up, same with a low wing balanced upside down but not as pronounced. This pendulum effect works against you when doing maneuvers like snaps, lomchevaks, axial rolls, ...etc. because it causes the airplane to barrel around the true CG. This airplane is designed to perform a great variety of maneuvers with wonderful precision. The CG fore and aft is therefore a bit more difficult to measure because the CG top to bottom falls within the wing as well. Welcome to extreme aerobatic airplanes [sm=drowning.gif]. Balancing on the beam will get you close enough for safe flight, how it performs when flying will help you zero in on the right balance point for your style. The instructions say 4" +/- 3/8" that's plenty of slack to mess with. Get it close to 4" and fly it, adjust from there. I'm trying to settle on my desired balance point as well. Looking forward to some air time tomorrow, wow, look at the clock! I mean today!

God bless,

-BunnMan