Covering was cut with a soldering iron but the break was actually about a 1/4" out from the vertical stablizer and not right against the fuselage where the covering was removed. The wood on both sides broke relatively cleanly and the wood itself was reasonably soft. I was doing a very slow/tight loop at the time, pulled full up elevator and the right side snapped. I was about to get the plane back to reasonably level to try and land when the other side snapped off and at that point, went straight down. My son was impressed with the crash.