To continue on with the horizontal stabilizer.

The next part to shape and fit into place is the center section of the stabilizer (picture #1). I wasn't happy with the fit of this piece of wood. If you look at picture #2 you can see that the wood is quite a bit shorter than what the plans indicate. At this point I have 2 choices of how I can proceed with this problem. I can continue to build using the existing size of the center section. This would cause the entire stabilizer section to be a bit shorter than called for. While this will not cause any major problems with the rest of the build, and the finished plane will still fly with no problems, I don't like to build this way. So my second choice is to resize the part so it fits the plans. Since this part was just a bit short there is no need to cut a new part, as this can be fixed fairly easily. To fix this I glued a piece of scrap wood to the end of the center section (picture #3). In picture #4 you can see the part being sanded to the proper length. Once you have the center section sanded to the proper length (picture #5) go ahead and place it into the assembly. Next cut the trailing edge from the 5/16”x1/2” stock, and put into place on the plans (somehow I forgot to take a picture of this, but you can see the tailing edge in place in following pictures). Now that we have the general shape of the stabilizer laid out, we need to cut and place the cross braces. The cross braces are cut out of 5/16”x5/16” square balsa. When cutting the cross braces take extra care to get a good tight fit, as these are what gives the stabilizer it's strength. If the joints for these are weak then the entire stabilizer will be weak. I'm not going to go through explaining the measuring and cutting of each brace, but rather will just post some pictures of the progress. You get the general idea of what needs to happen. Pictures #6, #7, and #8 show the left side braces being cut and put in place. Pictures #9, #10, #11, and #12 show the right side being done.

When you are cutting and fitting the cross braces don't worry if you get one cut incorrectly. You will notice that the braces are all different lengths, so if you cut one wrong you can reuse the wood for a shorter piece, and then you can recut the piece you messed up on.

Up to now we still haven't used any glue on the stabilizer assembly. Up to this point we are dry fitting everything. Now is the time to recheck the fit of all joints. So take a few minutes to go back over the whole stabilizer to make sure everything is ready to be glued.

Once again, I'm out of picture space. So I'll stop here and continue in the next post.


Pictures
1. Placing the stabilizer center section.
2. The stabilizer center section is too short.
3. Adding scrap wood to the center section.
4. Sanding the center section to the proper lenth.
5. Center section is proper length and placed onto the plans.
6. Measuring, cutting, and placing the cross braces on the left side of the stabilizer.
7. Measuring, cutting, and placing the cross braces on the left side of the stabilizer.
8. Measuring, cutting, and placing the cross braces on the left side of the stabilizer.
9. Measuring, cutting, and placing the cross braces on the right side of the stabilizer.
10. Measuring, cutting, and placing the cross braces on the right side of the stabilizer.
11. Measuring, cutting, and placing the cross braces on the right side of the stabilizer.
12. Measuring, cutting, and placing the cross braces on the right side of the stabilizer.

Until next time

Ken