RE: Vertigo II Build Thread
Nothing says old school like anhedral! I like anhedral. The original design called for a flat stabilizer, but as the anhedral craze of the 70's caught on, I went through a couple of modifications to my V-II increasing the anhedral until I liked it. The set of plans that I have shows (clearly inked on sometime after the original drawing was made) 1" of anhedral for a total of two inches. So I guess that makes it an "authentic" modification. I can't remember how much I settled on, but 2" didn't look like enough, so I went with 2-1/2". The stabilizer halves are glued together using 5-minute epoxy. Now time to add the fiberglass center section reinforcement. I want the glass to extend 1/2" past the fuselage sides, giving me something solid to blend the fillets into later after mounting the stabilizer to the fuselage. I marked the stabilizer with pencil lines corresponding to the dimensions on my sketch. Masking tape is placed 1/4" to 3/8" beyond the pencil lines. This will leave a thin hard epoxy skin to blend the edge of the glass into, reducing the chances of digging into thre balsa skins, weakening them. I cut a paper template for cutting the fiberglass. After the glass was cut and fit-checked, I mixed up some BSI 20 minute epoxy, and spread it (I hate this word) liberally onto the stabilizer in between the masking tape. The glass is laid down between the lines, and patted with the brush to absorb the epoxy. Then, a paper towel is places over the fiberglassed area, and patted down with a dry brush to absorb the excess epoxy. The epoxy is what weighs, and removing the excess assures a lightweight product. This same principle applies to 3/4 oz. glass used to glass wings, etc for painting. The tape is removed and the assembly set aside to cure. Trim after the epoxy is cured, and repeat on the other side.