After taking some time off to experience intense back pain I took the Laird Solution out flying today. I blocked off the notch where the canopy isn't, and added about 25% more area to the vertical stabilizer (this is on a plane that _was_ a nice pretty black & yellow of the original -- now it's black, yellow and foamy white).
It flys! I was right that it didn't have enough vertical stabilizer -- now it's a bit of a handful, but it does pretty much what it's supposed to instead of flopping around the sky for a bit before coming to earth somewhere I didn't want it to be.
Whew!
Now, do I try to make what I have look good, or do I just build another one...