Uh oh, I made a mistake! This is my first kit build, and I *thought* I was following all the plans. I read them all the way through, and tried to make sure I was paying attention to what was coming, so I wouldnt build myself into a corner, but I did! I built the elevator, got the joiner wire all straight so the 2 halves laid level, and then, I epoxied the joiner in to the halves. The instructions never said not to, and there is no where anywhere in the instructions that tells you to. Sooo, i figured that was a good time as any. Boy was I wrong! I am now at the point where its time to set up the control rods, etc, and imagine my surprise when I went to stick the elevator on. How in the heck am I supposed to get the joiner wire past the vertical stab support? Heres my 2 thoughts on it, which do you guys think would be better??

1: Cut out a small segment of the stab support, slide the elevator in, then epoxy the piece back in? Would I need to drill a hole through the center up from the bottom and epoxy like an aluminum rod in there or something for support?? i dont want the vertical stab to tear off in flight! Would the epoxy be enough? If I do this, I will have to leave the elevator in place and just cover it all once i guess.

2: I could start over, go to my LHS, buy some balsa and rebuild the elevator.

#1 is my preference as it would be less work, but my main concern is structural strength. I dont want to risk #1 to save a few hours of work if it will jeopardize the lots of hours I have in building the whole plane. What do you all think about this? Someone must have made a similar mistake at some point? What did you do?

No 1 will massively weaken the fin, I dont advise that.

Rebuilding the elevators will not take you long, you have already done it once.

You could separate the elevator halves and use two pushrods to control them. You connect a pushrod to each elevator half and then join them in the fuselage just before they connect to the servo.

If you can separate one elevator half from the joiner wire, you can then slip one half into place and then carefully install the second half. Just use some plastic wrap or waxed paper between the wire and stabilizer to keep glue away from the hinge gap.

Installing the first half that has the wire will be a bit of a bother, but you should be able to do it. At worst, you'll damage only one elevator half and have to rebuild it. Better than having to do both.

Also, if you trial-fit everything first, you'll be able to cover the model and then get the elevators installed later.

On the larger 60 size kit, there is no wire. You simply install a control horn on each elevator side and use two pushrods. This seems like a simple remedy for your situation.

BTW, you have a vertical fin and a horizontal stabilizer.

Tom

well it looks like this may be the route I go. Seperate halves.. This seems like the best way to go in the long run. Now, that being said, how would I go about joining 2 control rods into one? I have an idea, will it work? Some of my models have a control rod from the servo about 4 inches long, then joined to a dowel, which runs throught the lenght of the fuse. at the the end, there is another 4 inch long or so control rod which is attached to the opposite end. could I use this technique except attach 2 control rods to the end?? If not this, what are your ideas.? Thanks for all the help! It looks like everyone reinforced my concern in saying #1 was not the best idea!

You can certainly do the two pushrods method attached to a dowel. Dave Brown Fiberglass pushrods are set up to work this way. I think you can get them at tower. The other method would be to run two wire pushrods through sleeves parallel to each other, then connect them together just before they reach the servo arm. The GP 60-size extra 300s uses this method, with high-strength wheel collars to join the pushrods. You might get some objections to this method of joining the pushrods because (1) it's not secure enough (wheel collars on elevator controls aaah!) and (2) it can induce differential movement in the elevator halves. There are some products on the market intended to accomplish this purpose more precisely. I suppose it's a personal decision. I built my GP extra this way and am not going to worry about it.

I building the same kit right now. I havent gotten to that point, but I am glad I read this forum!!!!
I hadn't even given thought that part yet and prolly would have buit it the same way you did.[:@]
so in a way thatnk you for making that minor mistake and thanks to everyone else for all the solutions

I have seen this reccomended several times. Carefully cut away the wood from one of the joiners and remove the wire. Then put it through the hole. And epoxie some wood over the joiner. As bax said you could cover and test fit before joining. That is what I would do. Just leave the side with the cut out for last to be covered. Cover it after everything is joined. Good luck with your kit.

Mark Shuman