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Attaching the tail is pretty straight forward, even though it seems like a BIG job! The horizontal stab is put in place first. It is hard to get the centerline of the fuselage aligned with the centerline of the stab, so I used a tape measure taped to the front center of the turtle deck. By checking the distance at various places on the stab, I positioned it square and true to the fuselage.
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The bolt holes are then drilled through the stab and into the fuselage longerons.
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Next, the vertical stab is put in place. Mine vertical stab skin required a minor bit of trimming for it to sit all the way down on the horizontal stab.
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To drill these holes I used my right angle air drill and step drilled up to 1/4".
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The vertical stab bolts thread into nutplates. There is simply no room to get a wrench on a nut back there.
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Somehow, despite measuring everything several times, the gap between the fuselage side and left horizontal stabilizer skin is a little larger that I'd like (1/4").
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The right side gap is perfect. I am going to either make a doubler to sit over the root edges (similar to the wing root doublers), or make a fiberglass fairing to cover everything (and skip the aluminum tail fairings).
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Aside from the fairings, the tail is mounted! I really wish I could just leave it on there. It's so motivational to see it there. But, that would really complicate painting.
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