> It took some effort to get the surfaces level and rudder vertical <

Then you have taken the right approach. Anyone who says it is easy to do this probably has not aligned things properly. I agonize over this step more than any other part of building a model. Buy the Higley's "Model Building is Mostly Mounting". This book says: "Attaching the tail. No other gluing operation affects how a model flies more than this one." The book has a simple process to do the job right.