• Project Home
• Tail Group
• Wings
• Engine
• Building Tips

Click on any photo below to view it full size.

Without thinking, I bent the wings of the HS610 and HS614 before match-drilling them to the forward spar. To perform the match drilling, I made a transfer plate out of 1/8" aluminum plate.

First, I cut the plate to the correct width for the forward spar, and to the length of the center portion of the spar. Then I clamped the HS610 and HS614 to the plate, positioning them with the correct spacing. I then drilled through the center-section holes of the HS pieces and into plate.

I carefully clamped the forward spar pieces to the fixture, and clamped the plate onto them (see photo). Then I drilled through the plate to make the center-section holes in the spar pieces to match the HS pieces.

Then I had to find a way to drill the holes on the outer portion of the spar pieces. I bent the spar pieces according to the plans, and made a fixture on top of the tail fixture that held the spar pieces at the correct angle. I Cleco-ed the HS pieces together with the spar pieces, and match drilled through the HS piecies into the spar pieces. It worked like a charm.

This is one of the HS brackets I made, using 2" aluminum angle from Home Depot (cost: couple bucks). I use 3/16" by 1" clevis pins, also from Home Depot, to mount the HS rear spar. On the center bearing, I use a bolt and nut.

You can download a copy of the plans from the Tools page.

To align my HS brackets, I used the laser level that I bought for my garage project. This photo is "staged." I actually aligned the brackets when they only had a small (1/32"?) hole in them, then drilled them out to size afterward.

To get good alignment, I made two pieces of angle aluminum, each with a small (1/32"?) hole at the exact height I wanted the bracket holes to be. I clamped these at either end of the horizontal member of the fixture, on the centerline. I then aligned the laser so that it shone through the first hole, through the second hole, and onto the vertical line on the end post of the fixture.

I then positioned each bracket on the horizontal member, aligning it so that the laser shone through the hole. It takes a bit of fussing to get the laser to shine through all the holes simultaneously, but that's the point! I use beer can material as shim stock (a tip I learned from Robert Pirsig, in "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance"). Drink the beer after.

I finished fluting all the ribs today. Once I got rolling on them, I decided to do them all at once. Sometimes I work on the project for an hour before I go to work in the morning, and fluting ribs is a good job for that time of day. It's quiet, doesn't take a lot of thought, and is easily separated into short periods of time.

These are the tools I use for fluting. On the left are my home-made fluting pliers. You can download plans for these at http://www.vansairforce.org/tools . They do a really nice job of fluting, as you can see in the following photo. Beside them, with the red handles, is my home- made hand-seamer, which I made by gluing a couple of aluminum squares onto an old pair of slip-jaw pliers. Everything else is pretty self-evident. To get the flanges at a right angle, I clamp the rib to the bench using Quick-clamps and the assorted bits of wood and wedges. I work the flanges with the pieces of birch plywood, shown at the top, which are left over from some other project.

Here's a sample of the flutes my home-made tool produces. I like them because they're small and crisp, but the bends aren't too sharp. This is the VS-404.

Finally I'm riveting pieces together! This is the rear spar of the horizontal stab. I have set the bottom row of rivets. I set the top row just after I took this photo.

Sorry about the bright colour of the tablecloth.

A close-up of the horizontal stab rear spar, near the center bearing. I took this photo to show how I used clecos with red nail polish on the tops to indicate holes that were not to be riveted, such as the holes for the HS-405 ribs. Unfortunately, the colour doesn't show very well.

Still, it's a nice shot of the rear spar.

I've been waiting for this for a long time. Finally, the horizontal stab pieces are in the jig. I don't know how this looks to you, but it looks damned good to me.

Next: fitting the skins.

The plans and Orndorf videos suggest using a length of threaded rod through the jig upright to locate the hole near the tip of the HS-606 end rib. I was concerned that this wouldn't be stiff enough, so I came up with this arrangement.

What you see is a bracket made from a strip of about 0.090" aluminum. I bent it near the middle, so that it had a flat top and two legs that were spaced to fit my jig upright. The flat top has a hole in the end, through which the bracket is cleco-ed to the HS-606 end rib. This locates the end rib very securely, which turned out to be a good thing, because I ended up taking the stab in and out of the jig several times while fitting the skins.

Another view of the same thing.

It's good to see it coming together and looking like part of an airplane. I was so proud of this photo that I emailed it to a bunch of friends and family. They've been hearing for, well, years about how I plan to build an airplane. Now I have something that non-builders and non-pilots can recognize as part of an airplane.

I can't wait for bigger pieces!

01/09/11

The vertical stabilizer was a little trickier to jig up than the horizontal stab was. The main problem was getting the VS-407 rib, which is in the center of the stab (note the line of clecos up the middle).

I used the skin itself to position the top and bottom ribs (VS-404/405 and VS-406), which was easy because they are visible from the outside. It took me a while to figure out an easy way to position the VS-402 forward spar and the VS-407 center rib, though.

To position the forward spar, I first marked and drilled pilot holes in the VS-406 end rib by extending the line of pre-punch holes in the skin (see photo below). Then I marked a line across the end of the VS-402 forward spar, and slipped it down inside the assembly until the line was visible through the pilot holes in the end rib. I used a spring clamp to hold the end of the spar in place while I drilled the holes.

To position the center rib (VS-407), I marked--on the forward spar--the position of the pre-punched hole in the skin at the intersection of the rib and the forward spar. Then I removed the skin, drew a centerline on the VS-407 rib, and positioned the rib so that this centerline projected through the mark on the forward spar. Before drilling the holes through the end flange of the rib, I reassembled the skin to check that the rib centerline was visible through the pre-punch holes.

This shows how I projected the line of the skin pre-punch holes onto the end rib. No, I'm not using some weird, brown primer. The lighting just makes it look that way.

When you build your jig, don't position the center vertical support too close to the horizontal support, as I did. My horizontal support is 3.5 inches wide, and the center vertical support is flush with the edge of it, leaving only 1.75 inches from the jig centerline to the vertical support. That worked fine for the horizontal stab, but proved to be not enough room for the wider vertical stab. I had to cut notches in the vertical support to clear the forward spar of the horizontal stab (shown) and the rear spar (not shown).

I was slow to catch on to the pleasures of back riveting. I frequently used a bucking bar or a squeezer when I could have back riveted, not because I preferred to, necessarily, but mostly just because I didn't think of backriveting. Now, though, I've become a convert to backriveting. So much so that I look for ways to backrivet when some other method might ordinarily be used.

I decided to make up this little jig for backriveting parts such as the rudder spar (see below).

I place the part to be riveted on top of the rivet set/jig, then use a conventional back-rivet set to create the shop head

Here's the whole set-up. Note the 2x4 at the bottom of the spar, keeping it level.

01/10/29

Fitting the WD-605 elevotor horn to the right elevator.

Another view of fitting the elevator horn.

Fitting the counterbalance skin to the right elevator.

The right elevator in the V-block fixture.

This is the electric elevator trim servo, nearly ready to install in the left elevator. I've shown it attached to the E-615PP skin reinforcing plate, which will be riveted inside the left elevator before it's closed.

I used a cardboard template to locate the hole for the wires in the starboard bracket. It came out pretty close to center.

I decided to keep the full length of the bracket stock that was supplied with the servo kit. That probably wasn't necessary, but I thought it would give added rigidity, for only a few extra grams of aluminum. I had to trim away quite a bit of the starboard (far side of photo) bracket so that it was possible to insert the assembly through the hole in the E-615PP skin reinforcing plate.

Van's Air Force Western Canada Wing is not affiliated in any way with Van's Aircraft Incorporated. Western Canada RVator is not a publication of Van's Aircraft or any other corporation. All products reviewed or mentioned are not necessarily recommended for use by RV builders, but are described for information only. All builder's tips are presented only as a source of information and a forum for exchange and the sharing of ideas and construction methods. No responsibility is assumed, expressed, or implied as to the suitability, accuracy, safety, or approval thereof. Any party using the suggestions, ideas, or examples does so at his or her own risk and discretion and without recourse against anyone. The members of Van's Air Force Western Canada Wing, the editor of the Western Canada RVator, and all authors and contributors are not responsible for any product or builder's tips misuse, incorrect construction, or design failure, nor any other peril.

All material on this web site is copyright Van's Air Force Western Canada Wing, or copyright the attributed author, unless otherwise noted.