It was raining yesterday so I took the time to work on the Nieuport. The kit calls out a piece of 1/4x3/8 balsa for both the rudder post and stabilizer trailing edge. The wood was very light and I could bend it like rubber. I sandwiched a strip of carbon tape between 2 pieces of Titebond buttered 1/8x3/8 stock as a substitute. This improved the stiffness dramatically with barely any weight penalty. I should also mention the little bamboo skewers in the kit. The strength to weight ratio of these little buggers is amazing. I am so impressed I went out and bought more at a local culinary shop. These would rock for pinning firewalls etc. There were 3 bamboo pieces in the stabilizer that where too long to avoid splicing two sticks together. I reinforced the splices by rolling strands of fiberglass removed from a piece of cloth around each splice. I stained the rudder and stab/elevators with Proctor medium oak stain prior to final glueing. The tail framing is now complete and the rudder is incredibly stiff. The stab can still be flexed back an forth when grasped at the tips. There will be struts attached but I still want to try and get it a bit stiffer. I also plan to assemble the top wing this week.