Here we have all the tail surfaces cut out and ready to go.
The elevators halves are joined with a U shaped piece of 1/8 inch
music wire.
The rudder is built up from balsa plywood which consists of a piece
of 1/16th balsa sandwiched between two pieces of 1/8th. The result is a
very strong piece of 5/16 material for the rudder. The idea is to create
a warp resistant rudder. I used aliphatic resin to do the laminating.
Now we are ready to make the tail fairing. This is actually pretty
easy to do. Cut wedge shaped blocks for the fairings and tack glue them
to the fuselage with a 3/8 inch spacer to represent the stabilizer and a
5/16 inch spacer for the vertical fin.
Now carve and sand the blocks into shape making them a nice smooth
extension of the turtledeck. Once done break the tack glue joints
and discard the spacers.
Tail surfaces sanded smooth and all the hinge slots have been cut.
I used CA hinges on this and have had no problems with them.
I also have a Great Planes hinge slotting tool. After a bit of practice it
works great and makes quick work of cutting the hinge slots.
Test fitting the stabilizer. You need the wing attached to make sure
the stabilizer is level with the wing. Make sure BEFORE you glue.
Also a good idea to check the stabilizer incidence with respect to the
wing if you have an incidence meter. Now is the time to correct these if
there is a problem.
I elected to cover the tail surfaces before attaching them to the fuselage.
Seems to be a lot easier that way.
Adding the vertical fin and the tail fairing. Note how the tail fairing
blends in smoothly with the turtle deck.
Attach the control surfaces and the tail group is finished.
Time for some final sanding on the fuselage before progressing
to the covering.