March 9, 2008

Now that the tapered pads are glued to the forward fin spar, I fitted the bracket for the rudder control cable wheel on there and drilled the holes. I clamped the bracket down and used a 3/16" transfer punch to mark the center of the holes in the wood. I drilled the holes with the spar supported at the correct angle to match the tapered pads because the bolts need to go through perpendicular to the pad surface, not the spar face surface. I temporarily bolted down the bracket with regular nuts and everything looks good. After I took it apart, I varnished the pad surfaces and the holes with epoxy for moisture protection. When that's dry I can leave that bracket on there more permanently. I'll still leave the plain nuts on there until at least the tubing is in those clamps. The lock nuts deform when you tighten them down so I only want to do that once.

I also did the prep for the main stabilizer spar. Mainly just centerlines and the trim tab tube hole. The elevator stop is also epoxied on there on the bottom surface of the spar at the centerline. It's just a small piece of stainless steel.

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