Well I flew it 3 times. First time, take off not too hairy, engine died on climb out, turned and landed dead stick with good control.

Second time it immediately did a space shuttle roll and plowed into the grass upside down. Spectators laughed. Fortunately nothing broke as the grass is now 8" high.

Third time off it went, reasonable straight climb-out, made 3 circuits of the field, it's still twitchy in the up/down plane and it's fast, but once you get used to it you can control it, more or less. After a few minutes, it ran out the fuel, engine died and it glided right in and landed like a seagull into the wind which surprised me. If anything it glides better than it flies. It seems that the minor changes (engine alignment, reduced elevator throw) have tamed the Devil Plane. I am going to give it a little more weight in the nose and adjust the elevator sensitivity one more time. It's still too darn nervous.

I also finally figured out how to start and needle the engine so it doesn't die 10 seconds into the flight. it needs a good squirt of prime because with the carb on the side, it won't prime itself even if you cover the inlet and turn the prop 10 times. And it needs to be set good and rich initially and then it won't lean out when it climbs or the gas gets low.

Hardest part is you can't see whether the darn thing is upside down or not, when it's flying between you and the sun, even tho the underside is red and the topside white. You have to "test" the controls and deduce what it's doing.

Well I think I have my belly lander! Thanks to all for the suggestions. I am going to leave the decollage for the moment, next time I have to reglue the tail I will fix that.