I'll echo Dereck. I buy my balsa in bulk from folks like Balsa USA, then sort through it for density & grain. "Iron" balsa, for example, I use for spars and high-stress places.
Most of what I build comes in around 15-20 ounces, 252 to 288 sq. inches, and 80-100 watts. I use a lot of 1/8" sq. balsa in my fuses, usually with 1/16 or 1/32 sheeting for the fuse sides from the wing TE forwards. Strength isn't an issue, as the planes don't hit hard enough nor mass enough to damage their structures.
We don't care to fly in the wind. We used to fly glow, up to .61 in size, but our philosophy hasn't changed (I've been flying R/C for 40 years and my wife's been flying for 37). Even when we flew heavy glow ships, we didn't fly when it was windy, because it just wasn't fun. And, this is a hobby, which we do for fun. When it stops being fun, it stops being worth doing.
payne9999, have you tried slipping the plane in for landings? We have several Piper-type models, and all of them do great slips. That's another reason we don't care to fly in the wind; we like to do our slips!
CD
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