Stabilator Tips (4)

4 hours

Here's a job I've been putting off since I built the stabilators a few years ago!  Ultimately, like so many other jobs I dreaded, it wasn't too difficult once I got started.  It was definitely easier than the fiberglass wing tips at least.

The fiberglass pieces that come with the kit are a bit too large.  The front edge is tapered, so the plans have you cut the bottom off the create to correct overall length.  I couldn't really come up with a good way to measure this, so I just snuck up on it.  I think I ended up cutting off about an inch on each piece.  I used a Dremel cutoff wheel and a belt sander to do it.

The closer piece in this photo is cut to length, and behind that is the other one not trimmed yet.

Next I laid out the holes and drilled each tip to its stabilator.

The other cut I had to make was the clearance on the aft side of each one for the ruddervator.  I carefully snuck up on this cut too, since I wanted to end up with a nice even gap between each tip and ruddervator.  Once I did the initial cut I just used the belt sander to remove a little bit at a time and did several test fits until it looked good.

Each tip gets a rib to reinforce the aft part.  They're the same ribs that are used in the ruddervators, with the forward edge cut off.  You might notice that on the lower assembly in this photo, the rib doesn't reach as far towards the aft point as the other one.  The fiberglass on that one was built up extra thick in the corner, which blocked the rib.  I just got it as close as possible, then cut the forward end of the rib off to make it even with the other one.

One final test fit, and then I riveted the reinforcement ribs in!

Ruddervator Rigging (2)

2 hours

Continuing on with setting up the tail control surfaces.  All I had to do here was set the lengths of the pushrods going from the mixer to each ruddervator.  In order to set the right length, the plans say to hold the stick all the way aft and set each ruddervator to 10 degrees up relative to the tops of the stabilators.

I used bungee cords to hold the stick all the way back, and then I made a 10 degree template out of a piece of cardboard.  That made it pretty easy to set each pushrod to the right length.

I'll have to take the stabilators back off again anyway because I still have to do the fiberglass stabilator tips, but now that everything is set up they're be quick to put back on.

Rudder Rigging (2)

2 hours

This was pretty simple.  I put the rudder on with its piano hinge and centered it, centered the control mixer, and then adjusted the cable lengths to keep both parts in the right place.

The only issue I ran into was the rudder drive horn interfered with the corners of of the stop plates at the bottom corners of the tail.  I filed some relief into the corners of the drive horn on each side to fix the interference.  However, the drive horn happens to land on the rivets on the stop plate instead of the flat surfaces of the plates themselves.  I'm not sure if that matters, but if it does I think I will just drill those rivets out and replace them with flush rivets.  I'll figure that out later.

You can see here where the drive horn was running into the corner of the stop plate:

I cleaned up that edge which also helped with the interference.

Working on filing relief into the drive horn:

It's pretty good now but I'll probably do a little more later.

Up front, the next task was to link the rudder pedals to the mixer by completing the cable adjusters I started earlier.  The plans say to put the rudder at the left stop, and the left rudder pedal 3/8" from the floor.  I used a 3/8" drill bit as a spacer, pulled the cable tight, marked it, drilled the hole, and trimmed the cable adjuster.  Then I centered the mixer, centered the pedals, and did the same thing on the right side.  I didn't have the right bolts on hand, but besides installing the hardware this part is done!

Ruddervators (9)

9 hours

Moving on!  The ruddervators were the same exact process as the rudder, flaps, and ailerons.

Annoyingly, the plastic coating on these two skins is something different than whatever's on all the other parts I've done so far.  It was SUPER hard to remove!  It's very sticky, but somehow also extremely fragile, so I couldn't really peel it off in big chunks.  I just had to sit there and pick away at it.  That covered like 2 tedious hours of the time I spent on these parts.

 

This bag used to be totally full!

Rudder (5)

5 hours

Holy crap it's been 6 months but I'm finally back at it!  I've been busy with house projects, work, and other stuff so the poor plane just sat in the garage.  It's time to get back to work!

Anyway I figured I'd start with a relatively simple part and bust out this rudder.  The drive horn plate needed a few degrees worth of bend.  I thought I had already bent all the plate type parts that needed bending, but I guess I missed this one.  I don't have my arbor press anymore but with a little finagling I got it bent acceptably with my little vise.

Next I cut out the skin.  Just like the ailerons I used snips to carefully cut it to the lines.  Pretty easy although I sliced the crap out of my hands, also just like the ailerons.

I fit everything together, which was simple.  The plastic cap at the top didn't fit that great at the tip, but there wasn't much I could do about it so I just got it as close as I could.  I might add some filler later, or more likely just leave it!