A lot of kits come with a piece of wire with two 90 degree bends in it to connect the elevator halves. This wire is usually 1/8 inch and quite heavy. Is there a lighter alternative out there for this purpose (other than a dowel rod)? Is there such a thing as a carbon fiber elevator joiner? Just wondering.

The joiner wires are not really all that heavy in the overall scheme of things. Go ahead and use it.

For aerobatic airplanes you can use a split pushrod and a control horn on each elevator so you can fine tune the trim, but this is generally knit-picking.

Clair

I sometimes use aluminum tubing roughed up and grooved into the elevator halfs. Wrap 6 oz glass and CA onto the elevator surfaces. Good up to .40 size. Never had one come loose.

I hate elevator joiners and use a split pushrod for all of my models down to, and including, .25 sized models. A joined elevator leaves you no room to trim out a model that does not track cleanly through a loop.

just my .02
John

Thanks for the ideas.