07/11/11 - Vertical Stab Tip Splice Install
After finishing the horizontal stabilizer we decided to install the custom “splice strip” for the fiberglass tip. The sheetmetal strip slipped easily between the top rib and the skin. The dimples aligned it right in place. Here are the rivets inserted: Return To Empennage
06/12/11 - Vert Stab Bottom Nose Rib Problems
June 12, 2011 Dan and I have been struggling with the bottom nose rib on the vertical stabilizer. Dan fabricated a form block that matched the plans exactly. When we installed this rib the skin would not sit right, it had a flat or shallow dish. When I went to rivet it the stems of …
04/02/11 - Riveted Vert Stab
Not sure of the exact date March – April 2011. We riveted the structure together and the skin on on seperate days. Also riveted the Rudder. Here is the assumbly test fit together. The fiberglass tip was not straight from the factory at the trailing edge. Dan used a heat gun to heat up the tup …
03/16/11 - Fabrication of a Vert Stab Nose Rib
Software messed up some pictures, trying to fix it Not sure of the actual date, between Feb – May 2011 We decided to remake a nose rib for the vertical stabilizer. Here is what we have learned A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R …
03/05/11 - New Vert Stab Tip Attachment
Not really sure of the specific date of this work, let’s just say it was between Feb and May 2011. Dan I and wanted to have access to the vert stab tip in case we wanted to put a position light or an antenna later on. Dan found some light weight plastic electrical conduit that …
02/18/11 - Vertical Stabilizer Tip
With the Stabilizer skin match drilled the next thing to do before priming and final riveting is to fit the fiberglass tip to the tip rib. Having read a few articles on Sonex web sites related to the problems with this task, I expected (and found) that it was not as simple as just slipping …
02/08/11 - Vertical Stablizer Skin
Well, after monkeying around for quite some time we finally resolved some issues we were having with plotting the vertical skin out on paper (1:1 scale) and actually glued it (with 3M 77 spray adhesive) to a piece of 0.025 aluminum, cut, filed and drilled it. We used a 1″step drill bitto create the inside corners …
10/06/10 - Paper Skin On Vertical Stab Frame
Dan cut out a CAD print of the skin on the vertcal stab The rivet locations lined up very well with the spars. The paper skin helped align the shape on the frame. Return To Vertical Stabilizer – Empennage Page