Empennage & Fuselage Connect

[Floresb18]

I ordered my fuselage a couple weeks back and that got me to wondering when would I connect the empennage and fuselage together? I have an electronic copy of the plans and did not find the point at which the two are joined. The plans just seem to show all of a sudden the two connected. Also I have not ordered the wings yet, those will come sometime around mid fuselage build.

[John-G]

Brandon -

Myself and others have held off on attaching the tail cone until late in the build. I actually brought the tail cone close to the fuselage and canted it at an angle so I could sit on a rolling stool while installing the auto pilot roll servo & wiring. Having the ability to stand and lean in a little to install the ADAHRS and associated wires along with pitot/static/AOA tubing the wiring made the task much easier than trying to do all that while crawling into the tail cone after mated to the fuselage ... at least for me.


Not sure how that will work with the new routing of the fuel system for the 912iS but I bet you could work around that easily enough.

Happy building,

[DHeal]

IMHO, wait until the last possible convenient time to join the tail cone and fuselage together -- even at the hangar if that suits your space/transportation needs. I did as John above did -- I angled the two large pieces closely together to facilitate the final hooking-up of various components. Of course, the final connection and tensioning of the stabilator cables is accomplished after the tail cone and fuselage assembly are joined.

[Floresb18]

Thanks John, I figured it would be later in the build as someone told me that I would need access to the rear of the fuselage once the wings are built. I hadn't even thought of the AP servos..

[John-G]

Originally Posted by Floresb18

I hadn't even thought of the AP servos..

You will want to install the the AP servos ... they are worth every penny. Can't speak for the Garmin install, but the Dynon AP integrated into the SkyView is robust and full featured. It is just pretty darn amazing ... especially if the AP and Knobs control panels are installed.

[Floresb18]

Oh I?m definitely getting the AP, I just meant I hadn?t thought yet about where they are installed