Agreed - I'm at just under 8lbs ... if it were 7 or even 7.5lbs the performance would be even better, landings would be a bit slower, etc... but I am happy with mine. Its built like a tank and fits in my SUV with the wings on... so it makes a nice looking great flying "beater" plane. Because the performance is good and it's affordable I fly it in all weather conditions and I'm never worried about dinging it up.

I'm lucky re: 30%. I get the 15% CP for $15 / gallon and 30% Heli for $20 ... my LHS has GREAT fuel prices (they sell at a slight loss to keep people flying... burn more fuel, wear out more stuff, crash more planes... kinda makes sense!)

I re-measured all my surface throws and set up land-takeoff/low/med/high modes last night. I found I had done not as good a job with my linkages as I thought. When you use multi-rates any issues with uneven geometry show up. ANyway - it's all dialed in within 0.1 dergee now so it should fly even better.

The stock landing gear are holding up just fine. A set of graphite gear would help with weight... but the cost of getting them made is probably not worth it. I may also look at using my drilled out and lightened Dubro gear... every Oz helps

I am building a 73" WildHare Edge now, I really like the Edge design and stall characteristics. The WH 73" plane is built just like the 33% planes (wing tube, stab tube, easy access interior etc) - it will come in at 11lbs with a Saito 180! 23oz wing loading and INSANE power... if VF comes back I think planes that can take an OS160, big 4-stroke or small gasser that are built like the bigger planes are the way to go. There are a lot of 50cc specific planes now... but not too many planes specific for the 25cc to 40cc...