I built a H9 EDGE for a friend and did the Dave Brown thing with 440 hardware but it still had a lot of slop. It seems to fly well so I may do the same thing with the Creek Hobbies Extra that I'm building.

"I was thinking of cris-crossing the rods in the tail to the left servo controlled the right elevator and vise-versa. "

I've got a Direct Connection Ultimate (bought used) and it was setup with the cris-crossing as you mentioned but still a lot of slop. But it flys well.

I've been thinking of trying pull-pull on the elivator and rudder.

ADVANTAGE: only one servo for the elivator and one for the rudder; no slop; no servos in the tail.

DISADVANTAGE: I haven't figured out how to run the cables and where to cut the exit holes

ABOVE: When I say "flys well" I'm talking about sport flying and simple aerobatics. NOT 3D.

It would be IDEAL not to have to add any weight.