May 7, 2020 The QB wings and fuselage will be arriving soon and we really want to get the empennage finished and out of the way before that. The second-to-last step is to mount the elevators and rudder to the stabilizers and make sure everything can swing through its full range of motion. Since we... Continue Reading →

May 5, 2020 If you recall, a few days ago we primed all the trim tab parts and then promptly dimpled the trim tab spar where it was supposed to be countersunk. The replacement trim tab spar finally arrived so taking extra precautions this time to not screw it up again, we attempted to finish... Continue Reading →

April 25, 2020 In order to mount the elevators and ailerons we had to install the rod ends into the horizontal and vertical stabilizers. There's too much friction to install them by hand, so we had to make a special too. A quick trip to the hardware store for some 1/2" PVC pipe and glue... Continue Reading →

April 23, 2020 These went easier than the elevators since the skin is thinner and we had a process developed, no photos today but it looks the same as bending the elevator leading edges. I ended up trying to use the seaming pliers again to get the lip bent a little further than the edge... Continue Reading →

April 21, 2020 Bending the front edges of the control surfaces was a pain in the ass. The plans call for using a medium diameter round rod to form the bend and prevent the skin from just folding at a sharp angle. We started with the handle of a floor jack as our pipe and... Continue Reading →

April 20, 2020 After a few days of letting the 3M adhesive cure on the trailing edge of the rudder, it was finally time to put some rivets in and see how straight we could keep the edge. The angle aluminum took a little effort to remove since the squeeze out from the wedge had... Continue Reading →

April 19, 2020 We actually started the left elevator work yesterday, after we finished up the right elevator. Since we were on a roll and thought we knew what we were doing we ended up dimpling the trim tab spar instead of countersinking it as the plans call for. So, that's the 6th part re-ordered.... Continue Reading →

April 18, 2020 Today was the final assembly of the right elevator and overall things went pretty smoothly. We remembered to put in the RTV on the trailing edge stiffeners before closing it up, this is a recommendation in Section 5 to help prevent cracking. Elevator RibsElevator SparRVT on Stiffeners All the rivets were reachable... Continue Reading →

April 16 & 17, 2020 Today was spent riveting all the skeleton parts for the rudder. Most of these rivets were easy to get to with the squeezer, but some took some creativity. There's 4 rivets that go between the R-710 horn brace and R-405 rudder horn that are optional pop rivets. With a longeron... Continue Reading →

April 14, 2020 The day after priming is always focused on cleanup and we never have much energy. Move all the parts around, roll up the booth into the rafters, and clean up the overspray. Clecoing Rudder Spar We also spent a few hours dimpling some skeleton parts on the rudder and cleco'ing things together... Continue Reading →