Hi wsmalley. I'm sure you're aware of this but it caused me some grief when i was experimenting with all moving tails so...

Beware the dreaded flutter! Its important to correctly balance the tail plane so that any potential run away oscillation is damped. On a jet style model its even more important due to the high speeds involved. The tail itself must be nose heavy (i.e. must rotate to the 'up' elevator position when disconnected from any push rods.

From a scale point of view it would be nice to have all moving surfaces, but from a model point of view they are not necessary. Full size jets have them so they can manouver in the transonic region. When they approach mach 1.0, shockwaves form around the aircraft, and on a normal tail plane/elevator arrangement, a shockwave forming at the leading edge of the elevator will render it useless (due to flow seperation i think). Anyway please ignore me if you know all this, or if i'm plane wrong!

- Martin