right im drawing some plans up for a zero it will be around 56" span. the question i have is does anyone have a good idea at what it would handle like if i built it with a clark y flat bottom wing setup. Same with the elevator

The Clark-Y airfoil for the wing would work great. It's been used on models since it was created. I'm pretty sure they tested it on a model on day one. As for the horizontal tail.............

Why?

BTW, the Zero had a cambered airfoil wing that was similar anyway. Truth is, scale models don't really need much more than they get from something like a Clark-Y for their wings. Models have wing loadings that're so far into the light category it isn't even funny. So you're not going to be looking for any extra max CL above what you'll be getting.

As for the tail, the original was like all it's contemporaries. Very, very few had cambered horizontal tails. They didn't need 'em nor wanted them. No value to them for those fighters, and no value for us for our models.

thanks for the info i just want the tail to look like a tailplane and not like a sheet of balsa thats just been coverd i really do want it to have some kind of airofoil section to make it look a bit more realistic

Then do what they did, use a symmetrical airfoil. And don't forget the vertical tail.

You're right for sure. Having some curves back there make the model look a lot more realistic.

Zero had a relatively oversize stab which suits models well.

haha yeah i know has a fair size fin too. when i get round to building and flying it i will just have to try a knife edge for the fun of it. in fact it wuld be quite funny if it did knife edge even if it was for a few seconds. but my target is to build it looking like a zero but handle like a dream

This is more about model design than aerodynamics so it's been moved to Scratch Building.

For the tail in order to get a nice looking symetrical airfoil I'd suggest you use something like a hinging tool to scribe an inset line along the trailing edge and then push in spines of 1/8 wide 1/16 plywood or carbon strip so you can sand down to a very sharp trailing edge to allow you to better get the shape you're after. Otherwise for practical handling considerations you have to leave it quite a bit thicker.

sorry my intentionms where to get advise about the aerofoil section i want to use but obviousley its gone further to model design, my appologies.

id never thought of the method you described it would certainly be very affective and also add allot of strength too. thanks for that advise.