This is the f-712d up elevator stop.  Nice piece of work, right?  (Hint: it's screwed)  "No," you say?  That's probably because I cut it crooked and too narrow and didn't get the end angle right.  You probably saw me throw it in the scrap box after about 2 hours of work on it!

Yep, I'm starting over on this little puppy.  A simple reminder of my fallibility.

Now for some real business.  I drilled the VS rear spar to the f-712 bulkhead.  There is a mistake here.  I drilled the upper vs-401pp hinge bracket instead of the lower.  In checking this out, there seems to be not problem.  I can leave the holes empty or put bolts in them.  I'm putting bolts in them.  It would be OK to drill only there except that the bolts are needed to further secure the rear tiedown bracket (only on a models).  So, I have to drill 2 more holes.

Here it is with the VS rear spar bottom attached.  Ah yes, I still have to drill the 2 holes I missed.

So far, everything aligns right on the money.  I've heard a lot about problems aligning the HS, VS and especially, the rudder.  Here is a rudder hinge check using a 5' aluminum level known to be straight.  There is about 3-thousandths clearance.  Torquing the front VS spar bolts took that out.  It's looking good!

With the rudder hung on the VS, I started on the lower rudder fiberglass tip.  Here I have it jigged up so I can get accurate measurements of the positioning and cutting to be done.  Van's scribe lines were pretty much on vertically, but horizontally, they were off about a quarter of an inch with my rudder.  That would have been easy enough to clean up after installation, but it would be nice to get right the first time.

You can see that Bill was in the shop again.  He always takes pictures of me.  You don't get to see most of them -- it's vanity.  I'm just fitting the rudder bottom.  Yeah, I should get that fuselage up on something and get my butt off the floor.

The rudder bottom is roughly cut.  I'll finish fitting it later.

Let's see, I think this is a picture of the VS-808PP.  I drilled the rear VS spar to the elevator stop.  Note that my elevator stop is not yet bolted or riveted in place.  I decided to change to order.  BTW, I am using a standard 3/8" drill for the bolt holes (AN3 bolts).  That comes out with a tight press fit.  A small amount of reaming then results in a soft press fit.  There is no wiggle room, even if the bolts are loose.

Here is why I waited on the up elevator stop positioning.  The plans call for installing it before installing the HS.  But, the vertical stabilizer attach plate (f-781) has a little jog in it to offset the VS leading edge 1/4" left.  That causes a twist in the rear VS spar at the elevator stop position.  The plans call for gluing a washer in place at the position of the upper arrow (below) to fill the gap between the VS spar and the elevator stop.  That is crappy!  By installing the stop after the VS, the stop can be positioned to fit flush against the VS spar.  Much cleaner.

Finally, I drilled the 4 mounting bolt holes in the vertical stabilizer attaching plate (f-781) and rechecked all the alignment issues.  Everything was sweet and my day came to a cheerful end.  Now for something to eat!

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