Tailplane rear spar to fuselage attachment

[David Burke]

I am currently trial fitting the tailplane to rear fuselage. The positioning of the holes for the vertical support bars to the rear spar seem somewhat vague. Judging by the drawing the pilot hole positions on the rear spar appear to be in horizontally in line with the rivet hole locations either side but I am not absolutely certain.
A second point is that having drilled the forward attachment brackets to the fuse they then ask for the spacers to be inserted and drilled again. This seems a recipe for disaster and I am going to mark the spacers up from the brackets and drill then on a pilllar drill instead to avoid making the longeron holes any bigger.

 

[Scott Will]

Spacers

Concerning the spacers under the front of the HS, a lot of people tape them down really well and then drill through them when drilling the front of the HS spar. You can see in this picture (look under my helpers hands) the white duct tape I used to help them in position.

Regarding the positioning of the stab, you get it close horizontally (left/right) and then measure from the tip of the stab to a point on the firewall. You want the distances to be equal.

 

[David Burke]

Will - The two vertical rear supports - do you know the positioning of the holes for the 1/16 pilot holes through the rear spar and into the vertical supports . I think it uses the lines of the rivet holes but I am uncertain.

 

[Scott Will]

If I remember correctly, the pilot holes you are talking about are in the rear spar of the HS? If so, then yes, those are where the bolts are supposed to go.

I built a 7A and I know the stab on the 9A is different. You may want to check with Vans or another 9A builder to verify.