Horizontal Stabilizer Construction - Vision #233

Laying out horizontal stabilizer ribs. The stab spar and elevator spars have already been cut from 1/4 foam that has been glass on both sides with one layer of BID cloth. I used a CAD program to draw rib templates and printed copies that I used to trace the rib outline onto the fiberglass panels.

Horizontal stabilizer and elevator spars and ribs cut and sanded. I trace around the paper template with a fine point sharpie. Cut out the pieces with a "rotozip" tool close to but not on the outline. Then sanded until the outline just disappeared.

My spar table, finally getting some work done on the airplane. It's taken a while to get my space organized enough to get on with making airplane pieces parts. NOTE: the big span of time from the previous entry, for a discertation on the great move, see The Shop - take 2

The horizontal stab spar in one piece, joints microed.

Using the lazer level to align the ribs.

The ribs glued on the spar. It takes a lot of clamps to hold everything in position.

The horizontal stab with ribs and leading edge foam in place. Next step, sand the leading edge and intermediate ribs to shape.

Leading edge and intermediate ribs sanded to shape.

BFTs installed on the ribs ready for the fiberglass flanges. What are BFTs you ask?

Single sided BFTs in place (leading edge and spar) plus a couple of ribs that need to be redone, I didn't get the BFT seated on the rib well enough.

Flanges done, ready to be trimmed.

Flanges trimmed to size. I used the hot knife method to do the trim. Note, a couple of the single sided BFTs next to the rib.

Bottom surface leading edge and intermediate ribs sanded to shape.

Center skin panel layup, I curved the panel to match the rib curvature. I did this by laying a strip of packing tape (the clear stuff) on my work table and attaching the foam panel with dots of hot glue, then raised the edges of the panel with a strip of wood untill the curvature matched the rib template. The other panels for the left and right sides are done similarly.

Bottom side BFTs in place ready to install flanges.

Bottom side flanges ready to be trimmed.

Top skin panels installed, panels are glued with an epoxy flox mix. Had to do some creative clamping along the butt line 10 ribs, the panels did not want to stay in place.

Center skin panel install, I used Scott's method of holding the panel in place during the cure.

The top skins in place and ready to be sanded to final shape.

Post curing the interior of the stab before installing the bottom skins. The "tent" is made from Celotex foil faced foam panels, they came from the local building supply store and are normally used as building insullation.

Inside the "tent", I use my heat gun, held in a portable vise, on the low setting. The temperature was held between 150 at the bottom and 180 at the top, this is done for 4 hours to attain the maximum heat resistance and strength of the epoxy.

I made "cradle" pieces from scrap 2x4 using rib templates and attached them to the spar table. The stab was then placed with the top skin down making it much easier to work on the bottom side.

I added a rib across the center section for added strength, it's not called for in the plans. It is centered between the leading edge and the spar and will be directly above a fuselage bulkhead.

Center rib with flanges added. The top flange was laid up on the skin panel with release tape under it. A bead of micro was laid on the top of the rib panel and the skin was then set in place and clamped and left to cure. This is the same technique used to install the seat support flanges.

Glide slope antenna was installed using a RST plastic airplane antenna kit. I don't know if the airplane will ever have a glide slope reciever installed but now is the time to install the hidden antennas.

The nav antenna installed in the right side of the stab, remember the stab is upside down in this photo.

I held the antenna coax cable in place with several "patches" of BID. I used sand bags, sandwich baggies with course sand in them, to hold the coax in place while the epoxy cured.

The glide slope antenna covered with a single layer of BID. The black lump is the "ferite" bead balun on the end of the coax cable.

Bottom skin panels being held in place while the epoxy/flox cures.

The rest of the skin panels being installed.

Bottom skins installation complete and sanded to shape.