Previous Builder          Next Builder

Had to go in to work this weekend, but still managed a few hours on the horizontal stabiliser wing tips across the two days.

Vans provide a few options for closing off the HS wing tip fairings, and I ended up choosing the balsa wood method. First up I shaped a piece of 25mm balsa wood to fit inside the rearward facing opening of each wing tip then, with the tip clecoed in position on the wing, I glued them in place with araldite.

Once the araldite had set then I removed the tips and filled the inside gaps with epoxy. I also decided to add a strip of thin aluminium to the inside of each tip (see second photo below) so that the blind rivets that hold the tip on have a bit more "meat" to secure to.

While admiring my work I noticed that I had overlooked something several months ago when assembling the HS. There are a number of inboard rib top skin rivet holes that need to be left open so that the empennage fairing can be attached at a later date. Hmmm, I went and put rivets in 'em.

Not to worry. I carefully drilled the offending rivet heads off and punched them out. I've ordered a heap of spare nutplates, so when they arrive I'll rivet them in to these spots to allow easy removal of the fairing when doing inspections.

Previous Builder          Next Builder