AQ500 & mgmoore7,

AQ500 makes a really interesting observation about the rudder increasing drag above the centerline. This seems like a feasible explanation for the rudder/pitch coupling. One thing that may reduce this is to make your rudder more symmetrical with respect to the centerline, by increasing its area below the center line. You may be able to extend it a bit lower, but you will probably have to make the rudder narrower at the top and wider at the bottom, like a lot of patter plane rudders. This should balance the drag out, and might mitigate the problem. Interesting experiment anyway.

banktoturn