hehe, i love frankenstein rc stuff. i bet some of your buddies might call you macgyver; that was my nickname in highschool.

your project reminds me of a physics project i put together during my senior year in high school. in ap physics we had an open physics project where we had to make something involving at least 3 principles we learned during the year, and explain the physics that make it work.

for my project i decided to make a propeller powered car, since the physics were fairly easy to "see" (aka, street swamp buggy). i had a K&B .21 sport nitro engine sitting around, and a tamiya hotshot that was in parts at the time. i made a flat plate chassis, motor mount, rudder, & front suspension mounting blocks from 1/4" ply, and mounted the front suspension from the hotshot to get steering (i used the shock absorbers too, but they didn't help much). for the rear wheels i used some 3" foam landing gear wheels with a peice of piano wire rigged to a separate brake servo to act as rear brakes (the only way to stop it).

to keep things brief, it worked very well, went about 25mph, never flipped getting sideways (because the rudder), and i ended up getting the best grade in the class for the project. it tended to swap ends when you hit the brakes though (no front brakes). got the grade not because of the craftsmanship & parts used, but because i did an excellent job breaking down the physics of it's motion, based on tire traction, prop thrust & torque, and rudder moment.

i wish i had it around to show you some pics of the frankenstein creation i made, but i ran out of room moving to michigan so i had to throw it away. i still have the hotshot in parts & K&B .21 ready for my daughter's physics project 13years from now, lol.

[edit: oh yeah, the question you asked.[] i use the stock tail skid (cf stick). works great, so i see no reason to change it beyond looks.]