I have finished a 4 Star 60 kit with the following:

.75 Tower Hobbies Engine
Clipped 1 bay from each wingtip
Sheeted Turtle Deck
2 Elevator Servos
2 Ruder Servos on Pull-Pull
16 oz fuel tank
4 oz smoke oil tank
Sheeted the top leading edge of the wing to the main spar.
Added 1" to the Rudder


I had to add 18 oz of weight to the nose to get it to balance on the main spar per the plans. Total dry weight 11 lbs. I had a senior member of our club test fly the plane. He said it flew OK for as heavy as it was. He said to try and get some weight out of it to make it easier to get off the ground and perform loops.

Here is what I plan to do:
Remove the extra servo on the elevator and rudder. (Should get rid of around 3.5 oz)
Remove the two golden rod pushrods and replace with a Y pushrod.
Move servos as far forward as possible. Without looking I think I can move them forware around 3-4 inches forward.

After doing this I should be able to remove the 18 oz of weith I have in the nose. This should get me down to around 9.6 pounds. I believe I should be at around 8.5 pounds. I can't for the life of me figure out where the extra pound of weight has come from. I can't believe I used that much CA and epoxy!!

Any other Ideas to remove weihgt?

Thanks

Here is a picture

mine is 7.5lbs with a OS91 surpass.

Waiting to get the tail fixed after dropping on the floor. []

Hi, what is the 4* 60 SS??? Is it your design, or thats how the kit comes?
I can see the differences. I see counter balanced elevator and rudder, and that you enlarged it and the ailerons, and I can see the the body itself is different, it's a bit bigger and "fatter" and maybe a bit longer, and there is an engine cowl(?).


Can I get more details?

Thanks, Elad.

The overall dimensions are not changed. I sheeted the turtle deck, added 1" to the rudder, and sheeted the sides. If I had it to do over again I would not sheet the sides. As you saw I also added counter balance to the rudder and elevators. However I used the existing wood and did not add any. Now I am fighting a weight problem, I think since I sheeted the sides. Basically I just added the SS on the end when I made my graphics. The body should only be 2/16 " wider if that much. I did a good bit of sanding after I sheeted the sides. It also should not be any longer at all. I did build a balsa cowl around the engine and I trimmed down the big bubble of a canapy to make it look sportier. That probably gives the illusion that it is longer.