Years ago...
I tried experimenting with floating or stabilators for stunt...on n' old Nobler. I saw one fly at the 69 nats that seem to fly quite well. I keep hearing flyers saying that this is a BAD IDEA...

Here is an Aero Flying fork that Bob Violett sent me...hummm??? around 1977 or so?
Looked interesting but the old white test bed Nobler bit the dirt when I was experimenting with an "X" stab n' elevator arrangement.   I never did get that weird little flying F'in' FORK FLYING?
HAS ANYONE TRIED THESE FOR STUNT. Bob Violett and the pylon buds...used them with some pretty good success?

Schultzie, et al...

I played with stabilator stunt/sport-stunt models for a few years in the early-/mid-80's. (Ken McLanahan also had a few such models...)

Instead of an RC Glider type, fork-driven, "all-flying" stabilator, I used a bearing across the root of the surface so the moving surfaces were better supported. Example: for a profile, a ply plate about 1.5" span, centered on the fuse, mounted a tube bearing for the "spreader" wire that connects the stabilator halves. Outboard of that center plate, everything pivoted... Horn attached - of course - to the moving stabilators... On lightly-built 1/2A and .09 models, I needed a light (.015 to .025 solid) tie-wire across the TE to keep the slot from stabilator to mount plate definitely open.

What I found was that a much smaller total horizontal tail area was as effective in turning power as a much larger standard stab+elevator setup... no fixed surface opposing elevator input... Also, the deflection angle needed was much less, more like the angle from stab LE to elev TE than the usual 30° or more degrees. (Think laying a straight piece of wood from LE to TE on a standard stab+elev tail at 30° deflection. That's ample for the all-moving surfaces.) That was the blessing and the curse of the setup.

If an all-flying stabilator is hinged well forward, control input forces increase - we have plenty of pull for that, and you get a solid restoring-force back towards neutral. If it is hinged too far aft, however, you'll get a tendency to "lock-over" to extreme angle, and that's hard to force back towards neutral. NOT smooth... NOT kewwll...

I figured where the aerodynamic center of the stabilator planform was - 25% of the Mean Aerodynamic Chord for symmetrical sections - and put the hinge at 20% MAC. Some restoring force. Low force required to deflect it for control input. In fact, I settled on bending the spreader wire tangs forward, to get 'static balance' - with 80% of the stabilator area aft of the hinge there was a tendency for the aft to droop. With the tangs forward, I got close to balancing that tendency to zero, or over-balancing slightly "up" (away from the ground) both ways.

The two nastiest features with a small tail area and a low-input-force requirement:

1) ZERO grooving. Without a stabilizer surface, no inherent stability. The model went where you steered it, only, and you had to hold it to the path you wanted. You turned it, you straightened it and kept it straight, or it wasn't...   Notice I said "towards neutral," above - NOT "to neutral." You want neutral, you find it and YOU hold it there. You can get used to this, but it does require constant attention.

2) In extreme wind conditions, a small tail area, usually adequate for excellent turning, may not be enough for a low high-g pull-out. I proved it wasn't - the hard way.

Larger, all-flying tails, as on Nuts'n'Bolts, can easily be extremely sensitive and powerful. Possibly moving the hinge line forward can help with that.

Finally, nowadays when so many great-flying stunt models look almost like tandem-wing layouts, instead of large mainplane/smaller control surfaces layouts, the much smaller tail area practical and efficient for a stabilator model looks wierd...

I came across a picture in an old M.A.N. that was interesting. Some young guy down in So. Cal. with his new stunter, with flaps and a stabilator. Looked normal, otherwise. That feller was Paul Walker. I noticed that none of Paul's current models have a stabilator. If Paul can't make it work well enough, then nobody can, but that's just my opinion. I'll try to remember to ask if he still has that model. I think there's a couple dozen planes in his shop, leaning against the wall, stacked like combat models.  Steve

Y'know, Wild Bill's been using stabilators for at least 40 years. Some of his designs have flown pretty well . . .