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| Tail surfaces finished and ready for covering |
This past week we finished the horizontal and vertical tail surfaces (i.e. elevator and rudder), save for covering.
We also built the 7-rib test section we'll use for flow visualization testing -- it needs only leading edge and covering and Mylar to complete, and we finished the rib spares for the middle wing section and got about half way done with the rest of the Rib0 end ribs, for the Middle and Outer wing sections (3 pair for outer wing sections since we are making one set of outer wing sections, one spare, and one set of longer outer wing section).
Tail Surfaces
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| Notching Horizontal Tail leading edge |
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| Notching the leading edge for rib clearance |
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| Gluing Horizontal Tail leading edge with contact cement (Uho Por) |
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| Bending LE flange farther back for clearance to spar |
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| Bending the LE flange farther back to clear bearing brackets |
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| Holding LE in place while glue dries (less than 1 min) |
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| Template used to align nose of LE at consistent distance from spar |
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| LE Template in place |
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| Completed LE on Horizontal Tail, with about half of blue tape on (to protect foam from Pliobond solvent during application) |
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| Applying the protective tape layer to the foam |
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| Applying contact cement on lower rib cap surface |
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| Gluing Leading Edge rear flange shims in place for greater stiffness |
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| Prepping to apply rest of protective tape to ribs |
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| Tail surfaces held in approximate correct relative positions |
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| Another view of the tail surfaces showing the ribs |
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| Relative size comparison (Vertical Tail surface on top) |
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| AutoAwesome view of all of our tail surface photos |
7-rib test section
We'll be using the 7-rib test section to do flow visualization testing to check for laminar flow and flow transition location on our main wing airfoil.
We got it all together except for gluing the leading edges, and applying the Mylar covering. We'll also need to sort out a technique for attaching it to the car top at the proper angle of attack.
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| Marcos working on the TE of the 7-rib test section |
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| clamping TE in place at end ribs while gluing |
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| Assembled 7-rib test section |
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| Applying Kevlar patches at TE joints |
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| Closeup of Trailing Edge patch curing under Mylar & clamps |
End Ribs
We are in the middle of finishing the rest of the end ribs for the Middle wing sections and the 3 pairs of Outer wing sections. We glued all the full-face doublers, and then sanded them down flush with the foam, in preparation for gluing of plywood rib caps.
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| Working on ribs and end ribs |
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| Repairing gouged foam on an end rib |
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| Sanding down the filler foam |
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| Sanded flush |
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| All the ribs for Center and Middle wing sections, plus partially complete end ribs for Middle and Outer sections |
Cartop Testing
We got a new servo box mounted in front to allow us to mount the vertical tail surface in the horizontal position, so that we can test the full-sized vertical tail, then we mounted the 1/3-span vertical tail test section in place, set the servo limits and rates, and tested that everything is working, in preparation for testing the full tails surfaces once they are covered in week or two.
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| New servo box in place |
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| David attaching the servos |
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| David and Tim tying down the tail test rig |
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| Our airspeed indicator for the tests (A Kestrel wind gauge) |
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| A view from the SUV during a test |
