fuselage question

[WSBuilder]

Still hoping for a response, please.

[WAM120RV]

I am pretty sure I trimmed these to fit. I have taken a couple of phots for you and will put them on my blog..........not sure how they will turn out because they are in light grey primer.

[WSBuilder]

Thanks for the pix. However, I'm still interested to know if there are any flap-to-fairing alignment concerns or if this part just needs to lay smooth and butt against the side skin. The fact that the fairing comes in the finish kit might suggest it gets installed after the wing and flap are installed.

[Derek]

I'm interested in pictures of this intersection as well.

[WAM120RV]

There are differing ways to deal with the wing root fairing. I found the curved skin that van supplied to be a real pain so I made some custom fiber glass fairings.

I have seen a lot of 4s that have to have an S shaped curve in the lower flap skin where it overlaps the fuselage, mine is no different.

There are some photos of the upper fairing being made at the very bottom of my blog. I will attach the trimmed down upper fairings onto the fuselage for you today so you can see the fit there. The wing won't be on but at least you will be able to see the fit onto the side of the fairing you are concerned about.

Now posted on blog. There are of course other ways to do this, you could consider some Sam James fairings which are similar to mine.

[WSBuilder]

I still don't see why the fairings come with the finish kit and not the fuselage? It appears all the builders incorporate them before inverted the canoe! I had Van's forward them to me ahead of the finish kit. They showed up quickly, but bare little resemblance to the drawing. Mostly, they're bent to an acute 70 degrees but the installation needs an obtuse 125 degrees, tapering aft to nearly flat. Van's says they're correct as is. Can't be!

[WAM120RV]

Perhaps you can post a photo of what you have got so we can confirm we are talking about the same thing. I actually made mine up from a de-skinned door off a crashed kitfox. I don't remember why, perhaps it was as you say they appear to come in the 'wrong' kit.

[Carr]

They should come in the fuse kit so you can attach them while the canoe is still inverted.

If they are about 15" long and made from .016 then you got the right ones.

Tuck the front under the bottom skin then push down hard at the back end to force the crease to just about touch the back skin.

Carr

[WSBuilder]

Steve,
I'll load pix tonight.
Carr,
Do you have any insight why they would be bent so much? I really don't want to use them after they've been significantly bent twice.

[WSBuilder]

I know I can force this to conform by un-bending it by half, but my question is why is it bent so much? As you can see, the aft end mates with the generous radius of the bottom skin so the fairing has to be un-bent from 75 degrees to an almost-flat 170.

Between this and the inexplicable reason the part is included in the finish kit and not the fuselage, Van's builder's support, isn't.

[IMG][/IMG]