Original Posted By: jkahn(at)picasso.dehavilland.ca (John Kahn)
Randy,We just completed our tail surfaces. I found many different ways tomake the pieces fit. All of them work and after your done you willwonder why you fretted so much over it. At least I did.We cut the end caps the same dimension as the main beam. It was thentapered just under the gusset plate connecting the end cap with theleading and trailing edges. The gussets are sanded fair to the leading andtrailing edges after gluing.The center beam is tapered under the gusset where it meets the endcap. Taper it equally on both sides.The leading and trailing edges are notched to accept the cap strips.One other thing that worked well was to miter the joint where the mainbeam meets the end caps. You'll get a nice corner without having to gluein any extra pieces to fill in the rabbit.Greg Cardinal>>> Stockberger 08/23/97 01:49pm >>>I'm in the process of milling the lumber for the tail surfaces. I havenoticed that theleading edge and the main beam are different thicknesses. Does thismeanthat the endcaps for the horizontal stabilizer and the elevators have to be tapered tomatch theleading and trailing edges?If I have to taper the end caps it will be a complicated operation sincethe rabbet willneed a different taper than the outer dimensions. (The thickness goesfrom3/4" at theleading edge to 1" at the main beam. The rabbet goes from 1/2" at the LEto 5/8" atthe main beam.)An alternate method would be to go in with a chisel and match all therabbets so thegusset plates would match up, then use a plane and sandpaper to fair allthe mis-alignedouter surfaces. This would be easier, since there is only an 1/8" to 1/16"differencein these dimensions throughout the tail.How have other folks done this?Thanks in advance.Randy Stockbergerstockberger(at)proaxis.comCorvallis, ORRandy Stockbergerstockberger(at)proaxis.com________________________________________________________________________________