Checking the incidences of the wings and horizontal stabs with reference to the "zero degree line" gives me peace of mind and could prevent a great deal of heart-ache down the road. If any of the incidences are off I can correct them before they have a chance to give me undesireable flight characteristics. Beg and borrow an incidence meter, or buy one if your club doesn't have a "community" use meter...I finally had to buy one because no one I knew had one.

First I chose a reference line for the "zero degree line." The only logical choice was the hatch area that was straight and flat. I set my incidence meter on the hatch area while it was detached from the spanner, and along the side to get the truest level reference possible. I leveled this zero degree line using the level and degree meter on the Robart Incidence meter and books under the tailwheel. I checked between each flying surface I measured to see if the hatch area was still level. To reach all the way across the chord of these larger planes I had to buy a longer spanner. Home Depot came through with a piece of nice aluminum the same thickness and width as the original spanner. The new piece came in a four foot section and cost me less than $5, as opposed to buying the Robard brand name replacement for $20 or so.

My results came out with the wings at zero degrees as well as both the horizontal stabilizers. The best time to check the horizontal stabs is BEFORE glueing in the hinges so a true incidence check can be done. I'll make reference to this post near the beginning so people seeing the thread for the first time won't omit this important step!