Spent a good part of the afternoon laying out and confirming the bolt holes that secure the horizontal stabilizer to the fuselage. The four front bolts (picture 1) were laid out carefully after confirming that the yaw of the horizontal stabilizer was the same on both sides with respect to the fuselage. We did this by measuring from the tips on each side of the empennage to the front of the fuselage. We moved things around until both measurements were the same. Got the measurements spot on.
The next challenge was to make sure that the fuselage was not twisted from the front main spar. We leveled the airplane longitudinally (side to side) and measured the aft deck where the horizontal stabilizer mounts. We found a very slight twist and Marty made a custom shim for the left (pilot) side. After tripple checking the measurements we then drilled the four mounting bolts. First drilled an undersized 1/8" hole and then drilled slightly undersized then reamed the hole to the final size.
The four aft bolts control the horozontal stabilizer angle of incidence. This was important to maintain at zero degrees. Plas call for measuring up a set distance and drilling the holes. This was done and the holes were drilled in the same three step process ad the forward horizontal stabilizer attach bolts.
The four holes in the aft portion of the spar will be for the vertical stabilizer mount which will be done soon.
After all the holes were drilled I mounted the left and right elevator and checked for spacing. Everything was close tolerance and there was no rubbing or chafing across the elevator travel. Next task is to drill the elevator horns and mount the vertical stabilizer and rudder.
It's starting to look a bit more like a plane every day.
