I'm almost done with my S.E. and I noticed the manual says to glue the tail feathers on and THEN cover it. I have a hard enough time with covering as it is. Covering it assembled will probably kick my butt. Am I overreacting or is it really pretty easy on this plane? Everything else about building it is a breeze.

Yes attach the tail feathers before covering. That will insure a good glue joint and alignment. Tail feathers are definitely not the easiest area of the plane to cover, but with practice we all can do it.

Thats the hardest part, I did it first and its not hard. This was also my first covering job. Go to http://shortmanca.tripod.com/

and look at my sig se photo gallery

I prefer to cover first, then install. Just don't cover the area where a wood to wood glue joint is needed. Or if you do, remove the covering material from that area prior to glueing. After installing, a little patch or two of material will cover the small bare area next to the glue joint. I've done it both ways, but find it much easier to cover first. Just remember it's imperitive NOT to have the area to be glued covered. An afterthought. If you cut a section of covering off to get bare wood, be very careful not to score the wood with your knife. It can severely weaken the structure. That's why I leave the glue area uncovered, but do cover the rest of the part.

I, too suggest intalling the tail first. it will assure better alignment and a neater covering job.

A good way to cover the tail is to first cut a strip of covering about 1 inch wide and install it in the corners. For example: on the bottom, attach the strip in the joint, half to the stab and half to the fuse. Then the larger pieces can be installed flat with the ends butted into the corner. The seam is just about invisible. The same technique can be used on the fillet on top between the stab and fin. It comes out very neat and tight with no lifting of covering in the corners when it is shrunk.