ORIGINAL: Jack Hyde
I suspect you will like it best with zero added ballast indicating that the optimum wing loading is less than what can be built with acceptable cost and adequate strength. Good flying, acceptable cost, adequate strength are all largely matters of opinion but you can find what works for you.
There is a reason the competitive pattern guys spend a lot of $ taking a few oz out of a plane. If you take a plane that is a bit heavy with bad habits and you start removing the weight you will see those bad habits start to disappear as the weight is removed. I do the opposite of this on the sim for practice -- adding fuse weight to make the plane more challenging to fly.
Flying these newer 1/4 scale IMAA legal airframes is such a different world from the ones available just a few years ago. A 12.5 pound 1000sqin scale plane used to be considered a good flying plane. When I first got a hold of a 68" E.F. Yak I could not believe the difference (8.8pounds 920sqin).[X(] It used to be that if you wanted something that was scale and flew well the only real choice was to move into a larger plane.
One negative I can think of associated with lighter weight is that the lighter the weight in relation to the exposed area in the wind direction, the more unclean, swirly, gusty air will be able to accelerate the plane away from the desired path. A constant wind makes no difference, but air unclean, swirly, gust air will move a lighter plane more than a heavy plane.