Curare stab installation
 

I would like some input on how you guys secure the horizontal stab in a fiber-glass fuselage. Specifically a Curare.

Cut the stab holes into the fuselage as small as you reasonably can.
Glue in place with a bead of slow-dry epoxy and micro balloons.
Consider adding balsa crossmembers inside the fuselage to add enough support that an accidental squeeze won't break the epoxy bead.
Masking tape on the stab and fuse sides can be used to control the bead. Remove tape before the epoxy sets!

Twisted fus
 

I have a more serious problem. I'm rebuilding this old Curare and I have discovered that the fuselage is twisted. The top of the fin is tilted about 3/8 inch to the left. Has anyone ever dealt with this on a fiberglass fuselage?

Attached are pictures of the stab saddle of a recent build. I added a balsa saddle inside the fiberglass to surround the stab top and bottom. This allows final fitting for alignment and incidence adjustments. It is very strong.

Thanks for the help guys. I made a holding fixture then heated the rear of the fus. and held it straight. It worked, so now I can reinstall the horizontal stab. and I will be along way toward getting this old Curare back in the air.

I'll be interested in hearing how that twist fix works out.
I did the same thing as you and had the twist return after the plane was built.

I was afraid of that. It's going to be straight even if I have to cut it.

try cutting the fin along the seam. align so it's straight, apply epoxy glue and tape in place while epoxy cures. Had to fix a lot of FG fuselages back in the old days like this to get them straight. Bending them with heat never worked for me.

Hats off to you for saving this classic. Please do a full rebuild thread here so we can all enjoy it.

Okay David here we go. The wing and stab. have been glued at the breaks. I fiber glassed the wing joint with two layers top and bottom. The stab. joint was also reinforced. Balsa saddles were glued in for the stab. installation. After it was installed I added fillets of epoxy and micro-balloons. There were tares in the fus. around the canopy area. The back side was cleaned with acetone and fiber-glassed with 4 oz. cloth. The cracks on the outside are filled with epoxy and micro-balloons. Two of the worst areas were filled with Bondo. I have been wet sanding the fus. prepping it for primer.

Curare Rebuild.
 

I'm going to go for the original Hano paint scheme. All the Monokote wrinkles were taken out of the wing with a heat gun. The center section of the wing is Monokoted.
The dings were repaired with balsa filler and Monokoted. The covering is scuffed with a scratch pad and is to be primed. Also the aileron horns were straightened, cleaned and re-glued to the wing. The main gear is removed to be straightened. The retracts are Spring Air. I have tested and they work.

Engine run
 

Running the Webra Speed .61 with pipe. This will go into the nose of the Curare.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qZdZ...ature=youtu.be

That Webra will work just fine.

Lucky Find
 

Yes I was fortunate to get this off of Ebay for $50 + shipping. The carb. was on backwards so no one was bidding on it. Other than that I looked good to me and that turned out to be the case. Usually the Speeds go for a lot more.