That Sukhoi comes from Phoenix with a lead weight "hidden" in the nose. Phoenix did that instead of making the tail out of lighter wood or with less structure. That ought to tell us something about Phoenix and that model. Nonetheless........

CG location is really our responsibility. It's sensible to expect ARF manufacturers to do a good job of building, but keep in mind that most of them are really just toy manufacturers who've found an expansion market. CG location is still our responsibility. And installing our radio equipment is also our responsibility.

My Sukhoi flew noseheavy to begin with. If you read my first posts in this thread you'll see that I started off placing my batterypack up in the nose. It took that to balance the airplane where the mfg suggested. After flying it, it was obvious that I was flying a noseheavy airplane. (The dive test and the inverted test work.) I kept flying it like that simply because the airplane still would snap and do everything I wanted to do with it back then. Then I decided to get everything I could out of it. So I moved the battery pack back. It really came alive.

When it did, I also got an elevator that didn't need to move but about half as much as before. So I moved the elevator horn connection out. I wound up with the same feel as before when it had been noseheavy. It was no more or no less stable an airplane. Stability comes from the size and location of the tail, not much else, and it doesn't change when you move the CG. What changes is the power of the tail. Adjust the elevator to match it's new power and you got the best of all worlds. You get less drag out of that tail with less movement and the same movement from the airplane. And adjust the linkages, and your TX stick feels just as "slow" or "safe" or whatever...... win, win, win.......