RE: spot welding and simulators.
The setup I described in my post above still seems a little short on elevator authority at low speed, but it appears to be a reasonable simulation, at least to me. I'd be interested in what other BobCat owners find. I think the wing airfoils are somewhat important. The actual BobCat has something close to a 12% foil transitioning from symmetrical at the root to slightly cambered at the tip. At low speed, the 9% root foil in the stock simulator setup just sinks out of the sky. It is a very cool simulator and good practice when weather doesn't cooperate. I highly recommend it.