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Stevens Web Site
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Date: 10-15-2007
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Number of Hours: 1.50
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Manual Reference:
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Brief Description: Cogitating on the Vertical Stabilizer installation
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After all of the issues with the horizontal stabilizer installation, I decided to go slow on the vertical stabilizer. It is a good thing, because it took hours of looking at the plans and the parts on the plane before I realized that drilling the holes to install the VS as per the drawings would have resulted in huge 3/16" holes coming out of the VS spar way too close to the edge, guaranteeing that they would eventually crack, fail and deposit my vertical stabilizer on some unsuspecting farmer years hence. Luckily, the plans warn to measure carefully to determine exactly where the holes should go so as to avoid edge distance problems. Well, this took much head scratching and examination. I finally figured out that I needed to map out where the tie down bracket was located behind the aft bulkhead and then transfer that map to the vertical stabilizer spar. With that done, I could determine where all of the holes could be drilled so as to keep edge distance for both the spar and the tie down bracket located inside the fuselage. Next, I clamped the vertical stabilizer onto the fuselage and squared it up by measuring from the aft most tip of the vertical stabilizer to the aft most tips of the (now leveled and bolted in) horizontal stabilizer. Everything is now clamped and ready to drill. I just don't have the guts to drill it until I have another set of eyes look it over. I will try to get either my son, Patrick, or Sam Beale to check out my measurements before I put drill to aluminum.
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Vertical stabilizer clamped in (note drawings with tear stains)
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VS clamped in, aft view (sharpie markings at the bottom note pos. of tiedown plate inside the fuse)
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