WOW!! Some nice planes there Mike! Everyone hear knows where you're comming from, enjoying the whole experience rather than just out flying. The best part of it is the ability to stand by the building table and change what ever you want to as you go... just as you said you're thinking of doing looking over the fuse.
I forgot to ask if you're using the steel screws for the L/G mount. nylon saves weight and shears off in a hard landing, instead of ripping the ply mount off the fuse. Also cut your screws down that go past any blind nuts, there doing nothing but adding more weight. The forward section of the engine mount, past the forward mounting screw on the engine, can also be trimmed down.
If you're thinking of "bashing" kits here and there, like building up the tail surfaces for instance, check out this thread on free a cadd program. You can have Kinkos scan your plans for a couple dollars and then load it into the program, mess with it, then have the plans printed (usually about $10), or email custom parts that You designed out to get laser cut and make a whole kit!
Lots of fun stufff!!


Skip the first page and a half and go down to post #41. The first 40 post is a debate about file types for cad, something not needed for this application.

http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_10..._2/key_/tm.htm

DM