Soarhead,
Thanks for the info and links. I found them interesting.

I am very familiar with a lot of the gliders and construction used therein. I fly giant scale racers which are laid up mostly by RnR products. We turn very tight radiuses at close to 200mph with them. MY Gr-7 weighs 27lbs and has a 131" winspan composite wing that RnR built.

I knew this wing was going to be heavy. It's like you said - technique. The wing sheeting was heavy (I didn't order AAA - should have), the landing gear area was overkill (and heavy), plus too much cloth on the inside, along with having too heavy a weave on the inside. I did use peel ply and soaked up whatever excess there was, but the balsa still acts like a sponge.

The spar is endgrain balsa and I consider the cap to be the carbon tow that was laid on each side of the wing in the mold. The spar is then laid right over it when the wing is closed up.

My next wing is going to use AAA 1/6" balsa, 1.4 or 2oz glass to sandwich the cores, and a little more care on my part when I lay the wing up. This was my first wing, so we'll see how the next one goes. I'm positive I can easily knock 10 oz out of the wing.

Michael