Project: TerryS     -     Entry

Feb 29, 2020 6 Elevators, trim tab & rudder in process Category: Empennage
I've been saving up the pro seal jobs to do them all at once, so today I mixed up a tube of B-2 & squirted a dollop on the elevator stiffeners and the rudder trailing edge wedge, then closed everything up.

Finished the r/h elevator other than rolling the leading edge. Clecoed the l/h one together, & clamped up the rudder trailing edge to set up.

Some people report difficulty getting the rudder trailing edge straight, so instead of the 3m tape I elected to go old school with pro seal because it gives things the ability to be wiggled around a little before it sets up. Once I had a light coat of proseal applied, I sandwiched the t.e. between 2 heavy angles with clecoes, alternating direction in every hole. After that, I went back and added cleco spring clamps between every cleco, also alternating directions. Even though I had a pretty thin skim coat of pro seal to start with, I saw some squeeze out at that point, so hopefully I won't get any pillowing between the holes. If it's not straight after this I really don't know how I could do any better.

I started with the rudder laying trailing edge up and the counterweight hanging off the edge of the table, but eventually, the weight of all that stuff hanging off of it made it so top heavy that I had to lay it down, but by that time I had almost every clamp in my arsenal hanging off of it.

I wanted to make sure and get everything done and positioned before the B-2 started to set up, so I didn't take the time to take pictures of anything except the results.

I had some B-2 left over, so I took advantage of that the way we used to back in the day and stuck a $0.99 magnetic screwdriver tip in the end of the tube. When it cures, you can cut the tube away and you have a screwdriver with a giant grip that you can put an apex bit in and apply a crazy amount of torque. Used to use these all the time to take pylon fairings off the jets and somehow the last one I had went missing years ago.


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