Thanks all for the input. I filled it down for fitting, but I did talk to Brandon and replacing it is suggested so I will get one on order and replace it when it arrives.

Got the tail all fitted up and varnished except for the rudder and bulkhead. Pretty exciting to put it all together for the first time.

a few things:

My elevator is pretty tight. It doesn't fall under its own weight. All of my bearing bushings are a nice smooth fit, but I suspect that the powder coat on the side of the bushing mounts and the tabs are causing some friction and the taps not being exactly square to the axis. Will this loosen up as the powder coat wears? Should I clean it off?

I had to grind some of the weld on the center horizontal mounting bushing, that connects to the fuselage, to make it square with the sides, so it could be installed. I want to be over cautious here and check because there are only 3 points holding the horizontal! It was minimal but what to check its ok.