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Empennage fairing

Jslow2

Well Known Member
I am working on my empennage and was wondering if the fairing is going to be pre drilled, or do I drill the attach holes to match the VS/HS?

I guess my question is should/could I install nutplates on the VS/HS now or wait and deal with dimpling the nutplate rivets later on
 
Just me

I installed the nut plates when i built the tail feathers. The fairing is not pre-drilled.

when you get to installing the fairing, it is simple to make temporary marks on the tail to indicate where the holes are, than transfer the marks to the fairing once the fairing is in place.

The location of the nut plates on the horizontal and vertical stabilizer is critical to maintaining proper edge distance. Not sure how this could be guaranteed if done later.
 
Hole Finders

I used a hole finder tool to transfer the screw hole locations to the fairing. All the tool vendors sell them.
 
My hole finder was a trouble light inside the cavity. It takes a few moves of the light source to get all the holes illuminated.

BTW - that faring is made in a mold, so thee outside is perfect, the back -not so much. A little sanding along where it will contact to ensure constant thickness will make it fit much better. Drilling should be done after sanding internally or it will not be laying flat.
 
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