30"-34" span 1" thick wings with 2+hp engines - this is a good start!

But as to your own planes - like with weight reduction, take care of the little things.

- Fillets at wing/stab/fin to fuselage junctions
- Cowl the engine - huge amount of dirty junk up there.
- Light weight - within reason structurally of course - drag is a byproduct of lift
- Tight clean control surface junctions, match surface thicknesses and profiles
- Sharper TE's do indeed reduce drag, esp when the sharp(er) edge is a smooth extension of the airfoil and not an afterthought
- Ensure wing-stab relationship is at or darn near at 0-0, trimming out climb robs speed.
- Well balanced props, aluminum spinners not plastic, solid engine mounting all result in more rpm/less wasted power
- Concealed or faired-in control linkages
- Forward CG's require more trim = more total lift than needed = more drag

and much more..

MJD