richbran

Marc,

Based upon Yr findings I took a long shot on my CG... DARN !! (counts as YIKES...)
With most equipment and engine temporarily installed but less tanks I had to hook up already 900 grams to the nose... I think the killer is the double sided thrust tube.

For those who need a tip on CG-ing big airplanes, here's how I do it.

Long time ago I made two wooden beams which can be bolted together by means of 3 (who translates draadeind for me....pieces of threaded metal rods), with winged nuts (vleugelmoeren) at both ends.
For each big model I make a two dedicated plates that can be clamped in between the two beams at any location. The plates need to be high enough to be able to cycle the gear.
Topside of the plates have to be made conform the underside of the wing near the CG point. Normally a flat or slightly canted topside (to fit the dihedral) will do, but for the MB I had to do some contouring to suit the underside. This forms an effective seesaw.

Come to speak of it, due to the swept back wing I might have to reduce the contact area to a single point (mabe a screw that fits in the wing retaining hole) as my setup in this case gives a false reading due to that sweepback.
Anyways, for straight wings the CG seesaw works great, to get even preciser readings on some planes I modified the contact topside with a half side of a wooden dowel.

Here are some pics, the tempex blocks are of course only there for safety during the weighing.