Yep, 16 is the heavy point. 15 and under is fine, anything much over that, you're going to feel it in snaps and spin exits.

Speaking of weight, I have to say after messing with these for a few years now, screw conventional wisdom and I am about to commit heresy....IMHO this plane flies better/easier at 10.5+ than it does at 10 or less. It's a BIG plane and the wind can kick it around if it gets too light, it's just a feel thing. Mine is too light for my taste. I am about to put some lead on the wing tube or something. Dean's and the Wingo's planes are between 10.5-10.75 and watching them last weekend in the gale force crosswinds in Ocala was pretty convincing to me. They just seem to ignore the wind and don't get kicked around as much. And as far as I can tell by flying them, they don't suffer any ill effects from being a few ounces heavier than what is considered "light".

Also I recently installed a YS 170 (finally). WOW....that is THE engine for this plane if you want to feel something spectacular. I have been in love with the DZ 160 for a long time ad as usual for me, I'm hesitant to change when something is working well. Now I wonder why I waited. In my opinion the sweetness is the ability to turn the 18.1x11 prop the same RPM as the 160 turned the 18.1x10 and the added prop pitch really smooths things out for me. The nice thing is, it slows down just as well. I'm also running the venturi and the smoothness of the throttle off idle is amazing.

This spring I am building one of these for myself and will probably do the build here as well. I am shooting for 10lbs 10 ounces all paint. YS 170 for power, servos to be determined. Aftr building over 20 of these things, it's time I had one that I actually built for me [8D]

Also I am currently putting the finishing touches on a matched pair of electrics and I will post some pics of the installation as well. The E versions are slightly different, and there are lots of ways to skin that cat. I'll show you what I do.

Heck of a good start to 2009 so far!

-Mike