Lem,...

I did change the wood of on my Great Escape fuselage; however not for the reason of keeping it lighter. Since I was modifying the shape of the front end I cut out new fuselage sides from contest grade 3/16 balsa. The wood in the kit was pretty good 3/16 balsa as well. I will admit, a few pieces were on the heavy side and I'm sure using contest grade fuselage sides does save some weight.

I weighed the entire plane before covering and came up with six pounds six ounces. Hopefully I can achieve a finished ready to fly weight of under seven pounds. Even if I can't I'm sure its not going to be much more than seven!!

I'll keep you posted. The wing is just about done, yeah!! The I can get all the equipment back in and get a final weight for you.

Signed,
Steve T.