Empennage Fiberglass Tip Installation

March 6, 2003

Begin fitting the fiberglass tips on rudder. A Dremel tool with cutting disk works excellent for trimming the fiberglass.

March 10, 2003

Match drilled bottom tip. Countersank holes. I used a countersink bit and just a few turns by hand did the job. As Van's recommends, don't plan on reusing the countersink on aluminum again. I'll move on to the tip for now and come back to the bottom. I'll be fitting the tail strobe in a few days.

March 11, 2003

Match drilled rudder tip fiberglass. Dimpled holes on rudder. Epoxied backup washers and cleco'ed in place. I use a high strength epoxy from Loctite. (See Tips and Tricks page for details). I used a little vaseline on the clecos to keep them from being epoxied to the washer.

March 14, 2003  

Riveted the rudder tip fiberglass with blind rivets. I am pleased with the end result.

March 16-17, 26, 2003

Began fitting the tail strobe/position light in rudder bottom. I got this method off of the RV-7 list of Van's Airforce World Wide Wing. I made a mounting ring for the light which will mount to the rudder bottom by blind rivets. Nuts were epoxied to the back of the mounting plate to accept the mounting screws of the light assembly.

Here is the rudder bottom fiberglass with the holes drilled. In the photo on the left, the gel-coat chipped when I was drilling it out for the rivets. The photo on the right was taken after repairing the gel-coat with Marine-Tex. Also, the holes were enlarged so that the nuts on the mounting plate would fit inside the tip and allow the plate to sit flat.

At left is the plate mounted to the rudder fairing with CS4-4 blind rivets. At right, the final mounting of the tail light/strobe. I will mount the rudder fairing to the rudder at a later date.

March 24-26, 2003

Fit and rivet right elevator fiberglass tip. When attaching counterbalance weights, I mixed up a little JB Weld and put some on the nut/bolt end to insure that the nuts won't work off. Used the same method of epoxying backup washers (stainless steel) inside the holes in the fiberglass.

March 26-28, 2003

Left elevator tip fitted and installed.

March 29-30, 2003

Attached elevators to horizontal stab in order to fit up the horizontal stab tips. A lot of filing to get a good fit.