ELEVATOR



  Separation & Preparation     Construction     Finished Unit     Curved Fairing  

The builders manual make sort of a passing reference to a curved lip to be added to the underside of the elevator.  Passing reference is the limit and no further instructions are given on amount of curve, size, or anything else.

I wasn't sure but decided to make a layup over some 3 inch PVC pipe and see if I could make it work.  I also thought that this would make a good cover for the flap control tube.  Both worked.

Using the good old trusty duct tape, I put several lengths down the PVC pipe and covered with a length of prepreg glass.  A little peel-ply, some time and I had some nice curved sections of fiberglass.
I made two length of the curved glass.  I cut one of them lenghwise into strips about two and 1/2 inches wide. The photo shows the strip after I bonded into place using the clecos to hold in place.  After bonding, I filled the edge in, sanded and added a single ply of glass to blend and add strength.  The surface was very smooth and worked out very well.  
These photos show the
strips bonded on both
halves of the elevator.
Once the curved edge was finished, I checked for proper elevator travel and found that I had to sand the edge down some to get the required down travel.  I also found that the edge now gave a positive control stop.  

This photo shows the opening for the trim servo and the fairing for the servo controls.