Scott, I just did some measuring to evenly space the holes, did the rough cutting with an xacto, finished off with dremel sanding bit. Trust me... it looks better in the pic than in person but it'll do. Fuse still seems plenty strong.

Safebet, I counter balanced my rudder (see earlier posts). I did not increase the overall height. As for as the contender being tail heavy I honestly wouldn't know... this is my first experience with the kit. The main reason that I did all the lightning is that I'm aft mounting the elevator servo plus I'll have the LED's and wiring for the aft mounted strobes. Figure I'll need all the help I can get to keep the CG where it needs to be and to keep the weight in line too.