Thanks Grifflyer!
Update #13.)
I finally decided to finish the frame and airfoils (minus the main wing). First, I made the stabilizers out of foam board and attached them to the plane. The horizontal stabilizer's dimensions are 24in wide by 8in long with a 3in long elevator. Here is a pic for reference:
After cutting out the general outline, I scored the line that separates the elevator from the stabilizer. Once scored, I cut 45 degrees into the inside corner of the control surface to get the elevator to rotate in both directions. Here is a pic that better explains the process:
Next, I laid the elevator and stabilizer combo on the table in such a way that the elevator was on the table surface and the stabilizer hung off the side. Then, after placing something heavy on the elevator, I taped the connection between the control surface and stabilizer (on the side that was scored and cut at 45 degrees) with clear packaging tape. Here is a pic for reference:
Next, I measured the center of the stabilizer long-wise (12in) and drew a line straight down the middle. This helped me align the stabilizer to the plane and make sure everything is mounted straight. Here is reference pic:
Next, I used more packaging tape on the stabilizer's leading edge for durability and protection:
I then mounted the horizontal stabilizer and elevator combo by inserting the leading edge into the 3D printed "forks" at the end of the plane. In order to ensure that the stabilizer was mounted straight and centered, I took a large spool of 22 gauge wire, wrapped it around the center of one of the body cross supports, and zip tied it. I then used the excess wire as a measuring device: while pulling the wire tight to the plane's rear, lining the wire up with the center of the nose, and looking directly down the wire, I compared the location and angle of the excess wire with the line drawn at the 12in mark made earlier. I adjusted the stabilizer until it was mounted straight and centered. Once in the correct spot, I hot glued the assembly together. Here are a few pics:
I also did a double check on how straight the stabilizer was. I took the excess wire to the right corner of the leading edge and gripped the wire at that point. Without moving my grip on the wire, I brought the excess wire to the left corner of the leading edge and verified that the grip point fell exactly at the left corner. It's mounted straight! Here are some pics:
Next, I started to make the vertical stabilizer and rudder. The dimensions for this isn't quite as straight forward. The stabilizer's dimensions are 12in high by 9in long. The rudder is 3.5in wide, but has a diagonal cut near the bottom. Later in the build I realized this diagonal cut needs to be extended. Here is a pic for reference:
The stabilizer and rudder outlines were cutout, scored, and taped in the same manner as the previous stabilizer/control surface combo. Here's another pic:
I then mounted some L-brackets to the stabilizer for more reliable mounting to the horizontal stabilizer. The 3D print files for this bracket can be found
here. I first hot glued one L-bracket to at the leading edge and (on the same side of the stabilizer) one near the trailing edge with about 4 3/4in distance between them. I then used a small screw driver to make holes in the foam where the L-bracket mounting holes are (2 each). I then used long M3 screws to mount the second set of L-brackets to the other side of the stabilizer and hot glued them in place. I then finished the diagonal cut for the elevator (as mentioned earlier). Here are the pics:
I then used the center line on the horizontal stabilizer to mount the vertical stabilizer straight. The vertical stabilizer was hot glued in place. Here's some pics:
I then mounted the elevator and rudder servos. The placement of the servos is more or less arbitrary (within reason). The pictures speak for themselves and should be relatively easy to replicate. A few notes: the elevator servo needs a small 3D printed piece and two large zip ties on the bottom side of the horizontal stabilizer. This keeps the paper from separating from the foam where the servo is hot glued in place when put in high load conditions. I had this problem with my previous prototype. Here are some pics:
Here are some pics that show where exactly I mounted the elevator and rudder servos:
Also note that the control horns are inserted into the foam from the opposite side the controlling servo is on. This is so that I can apply hot glue on both sides of the control horn, making it more difficult to rip the horn from the control surface when under heavy load. Here are even more pics (lol):
Once the servos where mounted, I zip tied the servo wires to the tail booms and finished zip tying other wires inside the fuselage. I made sure I zip tied just before and just after each servo extender connection. I also made sure that the white wires for both servos to be on the plane's left. This helped me make sure that I didn't plug in anything backwards.
Side note: I also added a micro USB cable (a long one) that plugs into the Teensy and is zip tied to one of the wire access ports in the rear of the plane (next to the LiDAR sensor). The part of the cable that plugs into my laptop is stored loose in the fuselage by literally stuffing the excess into the wire access port where it's zip tied. If the cable is needed when the cover is screwed on (i.e. updating flight firmware just before a flight), I just need to pull out the cable's excess and plug it into my computer!
Here are the pics:
Lastly, I finished the fuselage cover. First, I took each cover piece and individually screwed them onto the plane. I then CA glued large popsicle sticks to the top and sides of the cover assembly pieces; making them into one solid cover piece. Here are the pics:
I know that was a lot of info and can easily be confusing. Please ask if you have any questions!