Category: Horizontal Stabilizer

So not much detail for this post.  Somehow I didn’t have my camera in “timelapse” mode, so I had to edit down a few hours of 4k video down to something “reasonable”.  Again I was more concerned with making progress than I was on getting good camera angles.  I was doing a bit better with my elevator videos that I should publish shortly.

Essentially this was a bunch of “rinse and repeat” riveting the ribs and spars to the skin.  Nothing major.  There is a note in the plans that some of the holes in the center of the HS may be more accessible when they are out of the cradles.  I absolutely found this to be the case for my build (not shown in the video).

During this stage is when I really wanted an EAA counselor or another builder to come over and talk me off the ledge.  I was getting upset that my skins weren’t “perfect” and that I was putting some dings in the skins.  One of my local builders came over to take a look and didn’t see anything that was of any real concern.  Even the dent in my rudder didn’t make him flinch.  The advice was that I should try to use my mushroom swivel set (similar to this one).  I have one sitting in my toolbox but hadn’t used it yet.  I’ll have to see how it works on the elevators.

Anyway, here is the final Horizontal Stabilizer video.

After getting all the parts for the  HS deburred in the previous update and a nice break in the weather, I started to get the parts ready for priming.  Due to the chance of some storms later that day, I decided to skip the wet-scrub and just scuff the parts with a regular scotch-bright pad, followed by cleaning with Acetone.  This was slightly less messy and allowed me to move faster through the prep of  the parts.  Once the Acetone and air-filter went on, the kids had to go inside.

Just as I mixed the AKZO, the weather started to look threatening.  I thought for sure all that AKZO was going to be wasted, but luckily things held off and I was not only able to spray all the ribs and stringers, but had enough time to scrub down the skins and get them primed as well.

After that I had to go back and dimple the skins and all the parts.  One suggestion – Double check that all the holes on the skin that should be dimpled are actually dimpled.  Later on I realized I somehow missed a single dimple.  It happens, and you can kinda fix it, but it’s better to just dimple it correctly the first time.

I think part of the problem was I didn’t do all the skins in one sitting and decided to start to assemble a few parts before I finished all the dimpling.

With my angle-drill tool in hand, I finished drilling the last few holes in the HS.  Next, I spent what seemed like a lifetime taking everything apart and getting it deburred.  I debated not even posting a timelapse, but finally decided to post a VERY sped up video.  The fact that I was able to do it in small chunks in the evenings did help a bit so I didn’t loose my mind. I need to install a stereo or get some headphones to help pass the time.

I did have some company for a bit and finally gave my girls their own “toolbox” projects so they got to spend some time with Dad working on their own projects.

With some assistance from my cousin (also a Pilot and A&P) we were able to start assembling the Horizontal Stabilizer.  Getting the nose ribs in the skins was a bit of a pain, but that may have been due to my use of the straps vs the plywood cradle suggested in the plans.  As other builders have commented, we needed a LOT of clecos to get the skin attached well.  Basically a lot of “rinse and repeat” from this perspective and it was very nice to have another aviation enthusiast helping on the build.  This is always the cool part where things are starting to look like real parts, vs the work on the spar and ribs.

We figured out how the stringers go together and got them inserted into the ribs without too much fuss.  The remainder of the week was me match drilling one section at a time.  As stated in the plans, just come up with a methodology to get everything correctly matched drilled.

This is also the point where you really need to have an angle drill or angle drill attachment in order to drill the holes on the front spar attachment bracket.  I was personally hoping that my craftsman cordless angle drill would be sufficient, however it was still too big to access these holes.  So an order for the appropriate tool is in and hopefully it will arrive shortly.

At this point I have match drilled all of the holes and once the attachment bracket is drilled, I can begin the process of deburring.