Brief Description: Empennage fiberglass tips – Right side
I worked on the right fiberglass tips for the elevator and HS today. There was a lot of head scratching and looking at different angles of fit but that’s what it takes. The first step that I did was to insert the elevator tip in to place on the elevator. It won’t fit initially until you remove the fiberglass that is in the same place as the counterweight. After marking, and cutting that away, the tip fit right onto the elevator. The tip did not fit perfectly in alignment with the elevator flange, but that imperfection will be covered when I fill in the blind rivets and smooth the transition. The next step was to get an initial fit on the HS tip. There are no predrilled holes in the HS flange. I inserted the HS tip and taped it in position so that I could see how it looked in relation to the elevator tip – I want the transition to be as aerodynamic as possible. The elevator tip sticks out farther than the HS tip, so I angled the aft end out a bit to smooth the line. The bit of gap in the tip to flange will be covered with glass. Next, I measured, marked and drilled the pilot holes on the top and bottom of the HS. Deburred the holes and then placed the tip back in position to drill thru the new holes and match drill the HS tip.
I cut some trim pieces to provide back support for the blind rivets that will be holding the tips in place. As with the previous tips, these also get countersunk for the flush blind rivets and there isn’t much meat on the tip when the hole is countersunk. The trim pieces were match drilled to the tips – this is another reason I held off on countersinking the tips – I wanted good match drill holes to work with. Next, I affixed the trim pieces to the FG tips with epoxy. I went with the epoxy this time around to see how it works. It’s not structural in the sense that it just needs to hold the trim piece in place until the blind rivets are in place, then they will be the structural backing for the rivet. I brushed on the epoxy and held it in place with clecos.
