Flap installation, when?

[shiney]

I'm well on with the wings, ailerons are on and aligned so I could move onto the flaps. If you were me, would you install the flaps now whilst the wings are in the jig or would you wait until mating the wings to fuse. I'm not sure but I thought that I'd seen somewhere on the forum that alignment was better when the flaps are done at the mating stage.


Martin

 

[AltonD]

I drilled the flap hing while it was in the cradle. You will need to rig the aileron before drilling the flap hinge. I also used a piece of 1/4" hobby plywood as a spacer to setup the flap-aileron gap. worked out pretty well.

 

[robertahegy]

I had QB wings and fuselage. After setting the ailerons, I set the flaps 3/16" from the ailerons. The flaps mated perfectly with the fuselage when I did the wing fitup. Very minimal touch up with a grinder to fit the flaps to the fuselage. Got lucky I guess.

Roberta

 

[ViperDriver]

Ya do 'em while its in the jig. Found that to be easier.

 

[gh6gh6]

Flap - Fuselage gap

I had QB wings and fuselage. After setting the ailerons, I set the flaps 3/16" from the ailerons. The flaps mated perfectly with the fuselage when I did the wing fitup. Very minimal touch up with a grinder to fit the flaps to the fuselage. Got lucky I guess.

Roberta

How much gap do I leave between the inboard top of the flap and the fuselage?
Is this shown on the plans some place?

 

[LettersFromFlyoverCountry]

Depends on how much you need to trim -- if any -- to keep the flaps from rubbing against the side of the fuselage. There is a recommended gap -- 1/4" as I recall -- between the aileron and gap. But if you had a slight sweep (Van's doesn't consider a small amount of sweep to be significant) and if you were off slighly in the aileron/flap gap, it could change how much you might need to trim.

I did as others did. I fitted the flaps for alignment with the aileron while the wings were in the jig. When I mated the wings and after drilling the rear bolt hole, I then added the flaps and trimmed accordingly for clearance with the fuselage.

It's not a big deal.

 

[gh6gh6]

Flap - Fuselage gap

Depends on how much you need to trim -- if any -- to keep the flaps from rubbing against the side of the fuselage. There is a recommended gap -- 1/4" as I recall -- between the aileron and gap. But if you had a slight sweep (Van's doesn't consider a small amount of sweep to be significant) and if you were off slighly in the aileron/flap gap, it could change how much you might need to trim.

I did as others did. I fitted the flaps for alignment with the aileron while the wings were in the jig. When I mated the wings and after drilling the rear bolt hole, I then added the flaps and trimmed accordingly for clearance with the fuselage.

It's not a big deal.

I have the gap filed out to about 1/32nd now. That's enough?