I also can't tell if you fly real aircraft, or just models, but I'm sure that flying a larger 'model' is easier due to the lag-enhancing mass of the model. In fact, what removing the plastic panels did was reduce the surface area of the aircraft, therefore reducing wind-related control issues. The plastic parts that were removed had almost no effect on the wind-resistant mass of the model (too light). As for the wind.this thing is already sooo light that pretty much any wind at all will take it off course (I'm talking about a ceiling fan on LOW).

And by removing them, the center of gravity is actually moved towards the main rotor shaft, so it's better than originally. The 'bulk' is in the 2 THIN metal rods connecting to the tail (and is it not really 'bulk' at all). The thin plastic pieces weigh about as much as the lint/dust/dirt/fibers that accumulate on the chassis and rotors. Even Out-of-the-Box, this thing isn't completely balanced! The parts that have been removed in this 'instructable' are SOOO light that they would not really matter anyways, but this RC model is 'tail-heavy' to begin with. This RC model is about 7 inches long from nose to tail, with a (roughly) 7-3/4 inch main rotor span (w/ 2 main rotars). It actually IS as easy as removing unessential parts.