I have decided to fit the tail feathers for the first time so I rearranged my workshop today to make more room for the airplane. It was also a good chance to tidy things up.
I fetched the horizontal stabilizer and elevators from their storage shelves and started to get them assembled. This starts with threading the rod end bearings into the elevator forward spar webs.
I attached the horizontal stabilizer to a workbench and bolted the elevators to the horizontal stabilizer. Instead of drilling the control horn pilot hole immediately, I decided to fit both elevators first to confirm alignment as I have seen multiple posts from other builders that have had misalignments.
I had taken extra care when building to ensure there was no twist in the elevators or trim tabs and to ensure that the elevator counterweights were square to the elevators. This seems to have paid off as everything lined up perfectly.
The gap between the counterweights came out even and the trailing edge of the elevators are perfectly aligned along the entire length. I couldn’t be happier with the fit and it doesn’t look like I’ll need to make any adjustments! Both elevators move smoothly through the required range of motion.
Next up.. drilling the holes in the control horns.