Both horizontal stabilizers are nearly done. Just sorting out the transitions to the root rib on the bottom of them now with micro.
You'll notice on my second stab I put a little more flock on and let it ooze out - this is because I had a couple of very small gaps in the previous one. Better to have too much flock than too little here - you can always sand off the excess.
A top tip to get the stabs on and off easily is to use a little WD40 on the pins, tube and bearings (be careful not to get it on anything else as it won't bond otherwise). I spray some on a paper towel then apply that with the towel onto the pins etc. Works a treat!
Both fail safe carbon brackets are done and drilled now - they seem like a really good solution (if you are not rigging and de-rigging all the time). Solid as hell and easy to put the M5 screw in rather than faffing with the pin (even tough I will still use the pin). I decided not to cut a thread and instead will just use a nylock on the inside to secure the screw in place.
I spent some time making some spinner gap plates up too - not profiled to the prop yet but the basic shape is done. I used a piece of stiff cardboard covered in packing tape and then screwed into place using the spinner screws as a mold. As the fabric pushes up over the edge I used a runny flock mixture in the edge to fill that gap and then sanded down the carbon on top afterwards to give a flush edge with the rest of the spinner.
As I had flipped the fuse over I decided it was a good time to replace the alternator cooling fan plate on the engine. Yes UL Power have changed the design yet again! Hopefully this will be the final change. A fairly easy job to do with the fuse upside down and the muffler off. Bolts should be torqued to 10NM.
As you can see below the design of the old one was a bit crap as the 'meat' either side of the holes was much too small. As a rule it should be at least the diameter of the hole either side. Sure enough UL have found the old design to be cracking.
Today I had a visit from Rex my inspector and he was very pleased with my progress and was full of praise for my workmanship.
We ended the day by visiting the Shuttleworth collection together and watching the Hurricane do an impromptu display. Happy days!
Preparation now begins for installing the fuselage base.
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| Horizontal Stab after filling the edge gap with flock. |
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| Horizontal stab fail safe securing mod after sanding down flush with the edge (pre drilling though). |
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| Adding micro to the transition area - this is later sanded to give a perfectly smooth transition between the horizontal stab and the fuse. |
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| Oil inspection door after filling and painting with white primer. |
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| Horizontal stab transition after sanding. |
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| M5 screw in place for fail safe horz stab connection. |
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| Horizontal Stab gap in the end is very small - less than 1 mm |
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| Added more flock this time for the second gap fill. |
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| Making up the spinner gap plates - 4 layers of carbon used. |
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| Yet another 4 layer stack of carbon on the front of the cowl to allow it to be chamfered from the outside to clear the spinner. |
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| Spinner gap plate before profiling to the prop on the top - otherwise fits pretty good. |
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| Rex inspecting my work. |
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| Replacing the alternator fan plate. Using the prop flange gizmo to rotate the engine here. |
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| Access is okay if you remove the muffler and work with the fuse upside down. |
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| New design plate on the left, old one on the right. |
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| Old design is a bit crap as you can see there is not enough 'meat' around these securing holes. No wonder they cracked. |
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