Surgery went better than expected. I was able to remove the stab and rudder as one unit after repeatedly soaking the area where it was attached with CA debonder.
The wings and wing holder panels took a bit more coaxing — about an hour and a half of repeatedly soaking with debonder while trying to carefully pry it free without snapping or deforming it. In the end, sliding a single-edged razor blade slowly along the joint finally freed it.
I decided to finally ditch
any balsa in the fuse and go entirely with a hollow carbon fiber rod. Virtually unbreakable, and it solves the problem of strategic weaknesses where balsa and carbon rod meet, as well as where the elastic is anchored in the forward end of the fuse. (That point is under a lot of stress from the pressure the stretched elastic exerts on it. It's one of the first areas to fail whenever it touches down nose-first).
View attachment 491368
In retrospect, I should have attached the wing plate/wings
under the fuselage instead of on top. They would've been further away from the hot exhaust plume, and the angle of the elastic actuators would've been better (more directly in line with where they're anchored on the front of the fuselage). Something to keep in mind if I decide to do a version 3.
I was able to re-trim it without incident. I’ll admit it’s not the best long-distance flyer due to weight — it took 4.84 grams of tail weight to get a level glide — but at this point I’m just glad the prototype works. Guess I won’t have to worry about it getting away from me in the limited area I have to fly it.