I am still looking for a "cheap and dirty" way to accept or reject a design
with regard to the tail's contribution to pitch and yaw stability.

www.X-plane.com

Also, I
also have NO intention of designing or building a canard aircraft
because I
don't feel that I understand their principals well enough!

Other than making sure that the "elevator" stalls before the main wing
the principals are the same. The final pitch/yaw stability derivative
doesn't care if the numbers came from a canard, a conventional plane ,
or a flying wing.

IMHO the stall resistance of a canard doesn't offset it's other
disadvantages so your not going to miss too much.
==============
Leon McAtee
Quickie builder ........... former Q-2 builder