Hey Crazy - just thinking - the only downside of covering before installing the stab & fin is that you cannot do a pre-covering assembly where you fit everything (correcting things as necessary), doing a lateral balance so that you can add wing tip weight before covering and doing an initial CG check to make sure that things are fairly close. Before you cover, you know that every control rod is already assembled and fitted to the servo & control surface, that you have full throw on all of your control surfaces and that you can have your ship inspected by an experienced builder. If anything needs adjusting it's a WHOLE lot simpler to fix before you cover. Don't ask how I know this.