Elevator Travel HOBBS 182.0 hrs

One of the things that needs to be done on the empennage is trimming the rear spar for elevator clearance. The control arms on the elevators (not shown) will contact the rear spar flange and limit its travel. So, part of the flange needs to be trimmed back, as you can see in these pics. Of course, we never want sharp corners, so a nice radius was added to eliminate stress concentrations. I didnt see a note in the plans to do this, but it is just good practice to always follow this rule. The vibration caused while in flight will wreak havoc on stress concentations, causing cracks. I also did my typical edge cleanup with scotchbrite.

Tail Camera Wiring HOBBS 182.0 hrs

Here you can see my homemade 'fish tape' for routing wiring for a possible tail cam later in the project. I just used some nylon cord with a ring on one end. This is the hole I drilled in the VS for this purpose. If in fact, I install a tail cam later, I just need to mount it in the VS and route the wires down to the fuselage. 

Speed Mods Continued HOBBS 182.0 hrs

And more shots of the speed mods in progress....

Speed Modifications HOBBS 180.0 hrs

I am filing in the open cavities on the elevators with contractors foam and then glassing over the top of the foam and filling/sanding them smooth. The reason for this is twofold, first, for aesthetic reasons, second for speed improvement. This should slightly cut down on parasite drag to give me a cleaner airframe. It has been done various ways by lots of builders with good results in the past. I was somewhat worried about moisture getting trapped inside and causing corrosion. To combat this, I primed everything first. I also am using contractor foam that is guaranteed not to retain moisture. My examination of it seems to show it is very resistant to water. I figure, worst case scenario is I will be rebuilding my tailfeathers in a couple years because of cracking or corrosion! :) It will be something I keep an eye on as the airframe ages.

Edit (08/05/10): This mod idea turned out to be no good and I had to remove it. I couldnt get the AN3 bolts into the hinge brackets...whoops. Oh well, every idea is not going to be a success! :) 

Fiberglass Tips and Trim Tab HOBBS 178.0 hrs

Here are some snapshots of the fiberglass tip progress and my custom trim tab. The last couple shots are of the VS tip, same process as on the HS. You can see various stages of the process in these pics. All of this will look much nicer when I throw a coat or two of filler primer on these.

Wings Ordered!!! HOBBS 175.0 hrs

Well, it has officially been done, today I mailed my 25% deposit for my wings!! woo hoo! I had planned to take delivery by about the middle of May since that is when I will have the balance saved. So yesterday, as I was checking out the new higher prices on the home page, I noticed that the lead time had gone from 8 weeks to 12. That triggered me sending in my deposit now instead of next month. 12 weeks from now should put me about the end of May. I gotta say, I'm already excited...even though I still have 3 months to wait. I tell ya, buying the wings makes the committment of what I'm doing sink in a little more. The wing kit, along with the capacitive option will set me back $6755. By the time I pay the balance on the wings, I will have about $10,000 into the project including tools and supplies. Thats a pretty serious chunk of change. I will most likely purchase a builders insurance policy when the wings arrive to protect my investment since homeowners insurance wont cover it in case of loss.

In the meantime, still working on the fiberglass tips. They are looing pretty good. It is a time consuming process and it is something that really is hard to make a lot of headway on.I usually only get about an hour working on it at a time. It goes something like this: do a layup, wait 24 hrs for it to dry, sand, fill, wait 24 hrs, sand, fill, wait 24 hrs, sand, etc. I can see why most builders do this task as they can in between other stuff. Since I am waiting on my wings, it doesnt bother me, it keeps me doing something for the time being. But if my wings were already here, I would be doing things differently. The good news is I will be done with it by the time the wings arrive, whereas most builders have it linger for quite awhile throughout the project. Although I have enjoyed the process and I've learned a lot, I will be happy to have it done and over with.