Svante

So, up next was securing the fin. Before ordering the parts from Chad I'd done som measuring and found that the rear main spar of the original kit would be too short. Chad fixed this before cutting the parts, so that I received one more than long enough. I cut it just long enough for the fin to be at the correct height and so that it would rest on the plate right below the fin where the rudder torque rod assembly is to be fastened.

Doing some careful measuring and aligning to get the fin vertical, I first marked lines and then cut and sanded the rear former to get the spar to fit snuggly.

One thing that needed correcting was that I'd cut the skins too short. The turtledeck would cover most of the gap, but not all. I thus added a skin double that protruded below the skin for the extra balsa to be glued to. When done, I sanded the skin so that it now rests on top of the upper stringer.

When doing these modifications to the original kit new things appear all the time. As the new fin is way wider than the flat original then the fin was close to being wider than the width of the fuse. To correct this I loosened and moved the upper stringers some 2 mm further out before glueing them back in. This will allow for the fuselage skin to sit correctly in relation to the fin sides. More on this later.