Today was a fantastic productive day in the hangar. I started by applying a little bit of superfil to yesterday’s wingtip extension.
That is really some great stuff. The jig holes in the nose ribs on the left wing were 1/4 inch. This was just enough room for the AOA lines to fit through the aluminum with no bushing. The pitot lines already have bushings that Richard installed before he closed up the wing. I didn’t want to run the lines directly through the aluminum, though odds are good that it would have not been a problem to do so. Instead, I brazed a cheap Chinese step drill bit to the end of a 6-foot piece of 1/4 inch rod. Then I used the bench grinder to grind off the larger butt end of the bit, so that it stopped cutting at the 3/8 inch size. I chucked up the other end of the steel rod and had the holes enlarged in a about 15 seconds. This worked much better than I would have expected. Since I already had the fuel tank out, it was no trouble to install the bushings and route the plumbing accordingly.
After lunch I started preparing to re-install the tail control surfaces.
Here is the hardware that I had set aside for this job. I started with the rudder, then the left horizontal stab, then the right h. stab, then the elevators. I didn’t really get the access holes in the right spot for this job, so I had to add a few more. I didn’t make any holes at all for the elevator trim torque tube on the left side, so I had to remove the control horn, insert the stab half through a small hole in the fabric, then re-install the control horn from the other side of the fabric. Overall, this job required some mirrors and flashlights, and of course a little grabber to pick up the various bits of hardware that I dropped in the process of putting it all together. After I had everything installed, I leveled the fuselage and took a few measurements. I made the adjustments to the flying wires and struts to get the stab halves level left to right and front to back, and it all turned out very well. It should have, since it has all been done before.
The best part about getting these pieces together is the photo. It’s quite reassuring to know that the stripes line up, and I’m quite pleased with how it looks. When I was done with that, I prepared for and sprayed a round of blue paint on the boot cowl, right wing tip, left flap, door exteriors, and that sort of thing.