Brief Description: Attachment of vertical stabilizer, rudder and stab
This afternoon I finished the attachment of the VS and also mounted the elevators and rudder. The tail is really starting to look good and adds such personality to the plane. It must just be the “tail feathers” thing just like birds. So, the good news is that it all went together without a hitch per the plans with no deviations. The bad news is somebody at Vans must have been smoking weed when they dimensioned the rudder stops, because it just won’t work. There is not enough room before the curvature of the fuselage bottom to get the rivet line in with the stop angle pointing down. I called Vans and they kind of said “oh yeah, but don’t mount the stops until the cable is in place and then drill into place as required”. It is kind of weird because the bottom of the rudder is even with the bottom of the fuselage as it should be. That means it is in exactly the right place so Vans drawing must be in error. This will finish the construction of the empennage except for wiring, cables and final torque down.
