Guys, let's put this into perspective.

I'm suggesting that the design is weak. As weak as the firewall......... grin

And I've also recounted what I've done with my repairs.
Well, the sucker is back together. And I've weighed it. And I've got a problem. Turns out I'm a bit shy to report the weight.

You see, awhile back, I used a really good Triner 10lb capacity scale. But I knocked it off the counter a week ago and busted that sucker into many many little parts. (And no, I didn't then suggest to Triner they make it out of cast iron. I don't expect a scale to last forever when subjected to that kind of use. And I do not have 50years experience building scales.) So I was using my backup scale that isn't nearly as accurate. But a day or so ago I bought a really accurate 11lb digital that is "USPS accurate".

So when I weighed the repaired fuselage last night the new scale reported virtually the weight that the old one showed months ago. And that's simply not possible. There is a new liteply horizontal bulkhead behind the new 5ply firewall. I did cut out some lightening holes in it, so the liteply firewall isn't going to add weight but the new 5ply should weigh something more than the old liteply layer. So the new firewall is one layer of liteply and one layer of 3/32" 5ply. So you'd expect that to be heavier than two layers of liteply.

So what I'm guessing is that the old Triner wasn't as accurate as .......................... oh wait.................. I think I know what's happening.

When I was doing the repairs, I pulled the old throttle servo and put a Hitec225 in it's place. The old servo was a 1980s Airtronic and I bet the sucker was 1.75 oz. The new HT225 is only .9oz

That's gotta be it. That and the probability that the two scales differed somewhat too. whewwwwwww......