Need some advice on fitting the empenage fairing

Hi Folks,

I sure could use some guidance here. This weekend I tackled the empenage fairing from Fairings Etc. Things seemed to be going well up until I fit the attachment screws. I now have a sizeable gap between the fuselage and fairing and I'm not quite sure what to do next. Close the gap with some fasteners? Fill and sand? Something else?



I have not trimmed this area yet so I have a lot of material still available to work with.

The progress starts here.

Thank you,

I sanded that thick section along the inside centerline about 6" from the fwd edge to match the thickness across the front. This allowed the fairing to lie flat on the fuselage when fastened.

Thanks Ken for your feedback.

Another little bit of help

I used the Vans fairing..after sanding as much as possible, I used a heat gun to "help mold" places I was not happy with in order to get an acceptable fit. Carefully used it...as the difference between a soft, manageable fairing and a lump of melted goo is very slight. It worked well..particularly on those little ears that mold around the horizontal stabilizer. Did I say "carefully"?? Ymmv.

Fairings Etc...

Many of us spent a lot of hours trying to get our stock fairings to work. I spent more time on them than they where worth, ordered one from Fairings Etc... and they fit right out of the box.
For the money, they are well worth the time saved in my opinion.

I used a Fairings Etc empennage fairing on my RV8 and it fit very well, but did need some help. Their instructions are pretty good, but sometimes you don't get a perfect fit out of the box. As you show in one of your pictures, I had a gap on the front of the horiz stabs, so I had to sand some of the mating edge at the vert fin off, which allows everything to slide back. By doing this, I got a perfect fit on all 3 leading edges.
The mating surface on the fuselage was similar to yours. I sanded to the edge that I wanted and did a little heating to help contour the fiberglass. When heating; however, remember that the fiberglass will want to go back to its previously cured shape if it gets warm enough, so on a hot day in Texas....
Anyway, after that, I taped off the fuse with packing tape, roughed up the underside of the fairing and laid down some wetted out fiberglass on the fuse in that area. Then I installed the fairing over that and let it cure. Then sand down the fairing to the shape you want on the top. This will ensure that the fairing will keep its shape if you heated it previously.
This also works well along the vert & horiz stab if those edges are not laying flat.
Using this method, you can get a perfect fit with fewer fasteners.
Good luck.

I know folks have done it and all, but the documentation that came with the Fairings Etc parts recommends against heating up the fiberglass and working it over. For the time being, I've shied away from that technique.

The fit around the VS and HS has been pretty good. The fit around the fuselage is what is giving me some hesitation - seems that it is overall about 1 inch too wide.

From reading the posts, I think my next step is going to be shaping the leading edge that sits on top of the fuselage. As this removes material, I am expecting that area to become more flexible. I've also resigned that my forward countersinks will need to be filled and relocated just a bit.

Thanks all,