Pat:

You'll be happy that you went ahead and built the Phoenix. Like
Bash said, I would suggest making it fixed gear tail dragger though. Have fun flying without gear failure. Just be sure the wheel axil is at LE of wing. Any of the old pattern planes make
flying in wind so much easier. My old Kaos and Tippo 850 are very
stable in higher winds.
Another suggestion would be to Ca in carbon fiber strips to sides
of fuse at wing saddle area, going from 3" ahead of LE and 3" behind trailing edge.
Without the extra bulkheads the fuse is weak in that area.