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Houston, we have a fairing problem

Sully73

Active Member
I am installing the front vertical stabilizer to fuselage fairing. It does not fit.
It appears that the slot feature in the fairing that wraps around the front of the vert. stab. is off 1/4" to the right side. I measured the vertical stab. and it is centered.
Before I start whittling away on the fairing I thought I would ask the question.

Has anyone experienced this?
 
It is a 4 fairing, right? Later models incorporate a slight offset of the vertical fin.
You might have to perform the cut & splice method & graft the piece to fit.
Yeh, a venture into fibreglass work that RV metal bashers despise so much…
 
Remember that you really BUILD -3’s, -4’s, and early -6’s. The tail fairing on our -3 was so far off we just cut it up and used pieces of it as forms to make a new one. I’d be surprised if a -4 fairing fit well out of the box…just too many variables.

Trim and shape to fit….
 
so far off we just cut it up and used pieces of it as forms to make a new one

Same here on the -4. Used as positive molds to lay 3 layers of CFK on, gave me very light conform fairings.
 
What I did

Depending on the vintage of your kit, its likely the white polyester resin/ gelcoat fairing. Mine was a horrible initial fit similar to your experience, however I have done quite a bit of glass work over the years and I strted by some "re-contouring" with a heat gun used to soften the polyester and massaging the shape a bit while it cools down. I then sanded about 50% of the thickness from the flanges and mating surfaces to the point it was half way fitting the aircraft. I drilled the attach holes and clecoed it in place. next step was to put mylar tape over the aircraft structure, cut some glass cloth strips and soak them with resin, cleco the fairing back on with the strips sandwiched. Pull it back of and dress out the flanges and contours. It was a bit of work,not perfect, but the results were better than I expected.
 

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