OK, I said handy not quick-witted - I'm not clear on the clip lengths you recommend.
You got some 'splainin' to do, Lucy Steve. 
The area you speak of is 25-40 mi south of me.
And you get down to it, Al is really just like WA....except for the heat, humidity, the occasional tornado, the odd Klan rally, shot-up roadsigns, beer bottles on the roadside and all the Yankees on their way to Florida (meaning no offense to any poor, benighted soul who must perforce live up North).

Terry
Terry...if you look at my post up yonder with the pitcher of the two sizes of Sullivan line clips...I use the big ones, and think the small ones would be fine for 1/2a, but maybe tough for big/old fingers to unhook. Anyway, I believe the best plan is to use three factory made clips, either Sullivan or Brodak. The 4th clip will be the homemade/oddball clip. That clip should be on the handle, IF you have one handle and set of lines dedicated for each plane you have.
IF you HAVE to use the same handle/lines on a few different airplanes, then you'd need to put the oddball clip on the plane and leave it there, with the rest of the clips being factory stuff. It's REAL important to get your neutral(s) adjusted perfectly, and be able to go fly without having to mess with that. Having the neutral out of whack can cost you a plane, so just fly it out and fix it before the next flight. If you use a clunk tank, you might use a short fuel load so's you don't waste time and fuel on your first flight of a new model.
Having your buddies eyeball your handle for neutral in level flight can speed your progress. If you have your handle adjusted for correct neutral, it should naturally "groove" at the same height both upright and inverted. Well, that only applies IF you can fly inverted. That's not all that terribly hard...I just told myself that the NEXT control I would give would be "down". Haven't crashed inverted except once, and that was about 54 years ago...dammit!

Steve