ORIGINAL: ChuckW
You know, you could do a lot of things to this plane but if this is your first build though, you might just want to stick to the plans. This way you'll get used to how things are built and get ideas for modifications on future kits. This plane will be plenty fun when built stock, trust me.
Guess I didn't notice that this is your first build... in this case I'd have to agree with ChuckW.
And yes the rubber band method is plenty strong for a stock SSE. I'm going to use zip ties on my newly modified SSE but mainly because I think it'll be easier then the bands.