Vic,
The Sig 1/4 scale Cub was my first build as well, about 20 years ago. I built it on the living room floor. I had no building experence, and no flying experence. I was not even a member of a club. I found the directions covered every aspect of the build. I too was conserned with the tail to fus of the covering but when I attempted it I found it did exactly as the plans booklet said it would.

So I am saying, read the directions several times befor beginning the build. If you need help still Ask and we shall try to help.

You could use monokote but a fabric covering would be so much easier to deal with on this model. Expecialy in the tail area you mentioned. Plus by the time you add up the cost of the paint to the monokote you might just find you could have gotten the fabric for the same price or less. Not to mention the hassel of the extra steps of painting, sanding, painting.

There are plenty of cub yellow paints out there. Just use 400 or finer emory cloth to ruff up the cowl and spray. I would suggest though to put a layer of the .5 glass cloth inside the cowl to add strength. I do this for all my ABS cowls now after a respected modlers told me to. Sure beats the price of after market fiberglass cowls.
Sharpeye