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When to Final Install Tail Feathers?

rdt7

rdt7

Active Member
Patron
I have finished my empanage kit. I notice many builders remove the tail feathers (or wait to install them) until the empanage is attached to the fuselage. I would really like to not have to remove mine since they are all on and torqued correctly. Can anyone enlighten me on the pros and cons of leaving them installed while I continue to build?

If it makes any difference, I have a large hangar and a good regular helper to move and turn the sections.
 
The process of mating the empennage to the fuselage is cumbersome at best. If the H&V stab are attached, the empennage is even more unwieldy. Second issue - when you have to rotate the fuselage to work on the cabin interior, systems, the stabs will be in the way of achieving sufficient rotation of the fuselage.

I would leave the H&V stabs off until further down the road.
 
rdt7 said:
Can anyone enlighten me on the pros and cons of leaving them installed while I continue to build?
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I left mine off. I think it would be more difficult to do "the join" with the H&V stabs installed. Plus, there was more ongoing work within the fuselage that was easier when I was able to rotate the fuselage on my rotisserie. I also think the H&V stabs make the structure more unstable with no landing gear to support it.

I'm a new builder and as much as I wanted to permanently attach the tail feathers so I could "finish" that part of my build, leaving them off was a better option for me. I'm done with the fuselage and working on wings now. I probably won't attach tail feathers until I get the landing gear on.
 
rdt7 said:
I have finished my empanage kit. I notice many builders remove the tail feathers (or wait to install them) until the empanage is attached to the fuselage. I would really like to not have to remove mine since they are all on and torqued correctly. Can anyone enlighten me on the pros and cons of leaving them installed while I continue to build?

If it makes any difference, I have a large hangar and a good regular helper to move and turn the sections.
Click to expand...
In my opinion, you don’t want to “permanently” install them until after it is moved to the airport. Why tempt damaging them.
 
Final Install at airport or after painting. A lot people install their tail feathers and then leave them on while the airplane is painted. You can't get paint into all the areas needed and it shows up close. I would definitely not run your engine with the tail feathers on a wings OFF. That will lead to some damaged elevators from the shaking. Seen it several times (once on our airplane). We thought we hit the tail but there was no dent, just buckled.
 
Trial fit- Yes. Permanently attached- No. for all the reasons already mentioned above, plus for the convenience of not taking up all that workspace prematurely.
Same goes for wings & gear legs, put off as long as you can before permanently attaching those big things that hinder access to internal fuselage work.
 
I think there may be some confusion with the terminology. "Tail feathers" could mean the control surfaces or the entire empennage. Are you saying that you have your rudder attached to the vertical stabilizer and the elevators attached to the horizontal stabilizer? If that's the case, then I would leave them that way for now, tucked safely away in a corner of the hangar. But you're going to want to break those assemblies apart before you mount the HS and the VS to the fuselage. Regardless of how much space you have, you don't want the rudder or the elevators to be able to flop around while you're trying to get things aligned and dialed in. That's inviting damage. Not to mention that it's a little heavier when you're moving completed assemblies around. It won't be the only piece that you assemble and disassemble during the build. Trust me. As another post said, it's just a few bolts.

Further down the road when the fuselage is complete, many builders fit & drill the HS and VS to the fuselage, then remove the empennage components again to free up room in the shop or. It also makes transporting the plane from your shop/house to the airport easier. If you have a big space you're currently working in, that may not be necessary and you could leave the entire empennage mounted.
 
D-Dubya said:
I think there may be some confusion with the terminology. "Tail feathers" could mean the control surfaces or the entire empennage. Are you saying that you have your rudder attached to the vertical stabilizer and the elevators attached to the horizontal stabilizer? If that's the case, then I would leave them that way for now, tucked safely away in a corner of the hangar. But you're going to want to break those assemblies apart before you mount the HS and the VS to the fuselage. Regardless of how much space you have, you don't want the rudder or the elevators to be able to flop around while you're trying to get things aligned and dialed in. That's inviting damage. Not to mention that it's a little heavier when you're moving completed assemblies around. It won't be the only piece that you assemble and disassemble during the build. Trust me. As another post said, it's just a few bolts.

Further down the road when the fuselage is complete, many builders fit & drill the HS and VS to the fuselage, then remove the empennage components again to free up room in the shop or. It also makes transporting the plane from your shop/house to the airport easier. If you have a big space you're currently working in, that may not be necessary and you could leave the entire empennage mounted.
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See picture for what's installed now. What I'm hearing from folks is to take off the HS and VS and remove the rudder and elevators from them as well. Workshop space is not an issue but ease of further assembly seems to be the driving factor. In other words, further assembly with the tail feathers intact would be more difficult than removing them all and reattaching later.

Thanks to all for your advice.
 

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Not the way I did it but now that it is done I think it is doable if you can keep the empennage well supported until all riveting to fuse is completed.
 
It is absolutely doable. This is the way I did mine. It really depends if you plan on using a rotisserie or not. I elected not to use one. Instead, I bought a motorcycle table at Harbor Freight and built my fuselage on that. No, you can’t rotate it….but you can raise and lower it at will and to me that was more desirable than being able to turn it. I hate doing work twice, and after I had final installed the tail feathers I just didn’t want to do it over again. I, too am building in my hangar, so it didn’t need to be transported to the airport.
what I did was I put the empenage on two adjustable leg saw horses (Lowe’s) with some cheap casters under the sawhorse feet so I could roll it around easily. Then, I built the fuselage on the motorcycle table. On “Big Join” day, I got some buddies around and we just rolled the empenage around and slid it right in. I even installed the elevator pushrod along with the pitch servo in the emp. Before hand so I didn’t have to lay on my belly up inside there later. The pushrod stuck out a couple feet from the emp. Bulkhead, but no problem, we just slid it in. I think we had the big join done in a couple hours. The Table helped a lot, I think because you could put it at the exact height you wanted.

Jerry

RV-14
sn 140601
N140JK
 
I would leave them off until later in the build. They are easy to install as compared to they getting in the way during the big join. Also if you are going to use a rotisserie for the rest of the build (which for me made everything much easier : highly recommended) it will limit rotation and thus limit the effectiveness of the rotisserie.
 
Mine were mounted, aligned, then placed on the wall for storage. Took off after "big join" and mounted again when elevator push-rod was installed. Tail-feathers have been on and off several times. Just not a big deal to mount and remove. Currently have been off for quite some time. Headed to the airport in the next few days.

I'm fortunate to have a pretty decent sized shop. Even so, I removed the tail feathers as it's a long walk around a horizontal stabilizer and the likelihood of damage is much higher with them installed. However, the "wow" factor for visitors looking at the project isn't nearly as high with the "stuff" removed that makes it look like an airplane.

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Reflex said:
Mine were mounted, aligned, then placed on the wall for storage. Took off after "big join" and mounted again when elevator push-rod was installed. Tail-feathers have been on and off several times. Just not a big deal to mount and remove. Currently have been off for quite some time. Headed to the airport in the next few days.

I'm fortunate to have a pretty decent sized shop. Even so, I removed the tail feathers as it's a long walk around a horizontal stabilizer and the likelihood of damage is much higher with them installed. However, the "wow" factor for visitors looking at the project isn't nearly as high with the "stuff" removed that makes it look like an airplane.

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Serious shop envy! 😋
 
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