Yesterday and today I worked on the forward
fairing for the vertical stab. I
installed the forward portion of the vertical stab. I held the PVC fairing in place and marked
the location of the holes. The 2-forward most holes on each side of the vertical stab fairing will be used
to hold the small PVC fairing in place.
I drilled the holes and used the squeezer to countersink the holes for
the flat head screws used in that location.
I installed the small PVC fairing.
The forward most holes squeeze the forward part of the PVC fairing in
and it looks bad.
I removed the 2-forward most screws and began
to consider various solutions to the problem of how to attach the PVC fairing
without deforming it. I considered
attaching some kind of aluminum bracket to the top of the fuselage and then
putting a screw down through the top edge of the fairing to hole it in
place. After working with some scrap aluminum
and attempting to make 2-different brackets I decided that was not a good
solution. The problem with the fairing is it is too wide at the forward screw
attachment points. I considered stacking
some washers between the PVC and the aluminum fairing but that seemed to be a
difficult solution. What I decided to do
is mix some body filler and put a dab inside the PVS fairing at the forward
screw holes to form a spacer inside of the fairing. I installed the forward most screws in the
aluminum fairing and taped some plastic over the fairing.
Next I mixed some body filler. There are a couple of very minor dents in the
aluminum skin. One on the top of the left
wing and one on the top of the right half of the stabilator. I sanded the dents with a Scotch Brite pad
and filled them with body filler.
Next I put some filler on the inside of the
forward screw holes on each side of the PVC fairing and installed it over the
aluminum fairing. The filler material oozed out of the holes so
I am sure there is a good spacer formed on the inside. After the filler has cured for a day I will
remove the fairing and redrill the forward holes and see how it fits on the airplane. By installing the 2-forward most screws on
each side of the fairing it will be securely attached to the airplane.
