What happens when the CG is too far back?

I build a foam plane(no name, scratch built) and originally felt that the CG was too far forward. Also, it seemed really twitchy but I think thats another issue with the amount of throw. Anyway I had to keep pulling back on the stick to keep it in the air.

I moved the CG back about 1/2" and introduced some dyhedral. At that point I was able to make two launch attempts before it crashed bad. It seemed tail heavy, I think. It would get about 20 feet away and leaned to the side and went down. Is that caracteristic of being tail heavy?

newman

When center of gravity is too far back, the plane is very unstable, unpredictable and tends to stall very easy. If the center of gravity is too far forward, the plane is stable but very sluggish,
and may not want to climb. If the C.G. is too far off in either direction,the plane becomes a rock!
The C.G. of most conventional type aircraft is roughly 25%-30% of wing chord from the leading edge root.
Good luck!
Bud

Thanks

When moving your CG, 1/2" is a long way. IMO CG should be moved a maximum of 1/8" at a time.

Jason

Thanks for the specific suggestion. Noted and will try it again sometime this weekend if I can get it glued back together tonight.