What's new
Van's Air Force

Don't miss anything! Register now for full access to the definitive RV support community.

Empennage pre-planning

J

JetMech72

Active Member
Right now the plan is to order the empennage kit late this year. However, I would like to know what else I should be thinking of, or order along with the kit. I plan on getting the electric elevator trim kit, but what else should I consider? Lights? Antennas? I don't want to have this assembled only to find out later that I should've added this, mounted that, or run a wire through...
Thanks!
 
There's really not much to plan for with the tail kit. If you ever wanted to mount an antenna or camera on the VS, you could always drill holes in the nose ribs during constuction to accept a snap bushings for wire later on. The only antenna I can think of would be a VOR antenna and for that most seem to be using the Bob Archer antennas which mount in the wing tips.

The tail light mounts on the fiberglass rudder bottom, so there's really nothing that needs to be done early on, assuming you wait to do the fiberglass work. My suggestion would be to leave the rudder bottom off and wait as long as you can on the lights to see how the new batch of LED products and prices develop over time.
 
Last edited:
You'll put the fiberglass tips on much later, after the empennage is installed on the fuselage, to avoid damaging them during storage and handling. Any lighting you want to put in place can be done then. Really the only thing to consider for the empennage is the elevator trim - manual versus electric.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top