Friday, October 2, 2020

Progress on the Rear Stabs

I worked on two of the three stabilizers this evening. 


I took my time with the first one, so I could figure out how the belt/disc sander took off the G10 layers.  After getting the outlines where I wanted them (disc sander), I foiled tip to tip, then front to back with the belt sander.


Then I used the random orbital with 60 grit to fair in all the cuts and get the stab to about 85%.  The next step is to use progressively finer grits to dial in the shape - thinking 120-180-220-320-400-500-1000 to get it all silky smooth and not have to use spray enamel.  And once that's all done, I'll line up the stab on the pedestal and mark the mounting holes, drill pilot holes and finish with the wedge bit.


It took me a couple of hours to knock out the first one.  Not too bad if I say so myself.


I started working on number 2, but quickly ran out of light and actually sanded off too much material on the starboard wing tip.  I already redrew a new outline on both tips - I'll remember this for subsequent batches (don't use the belt sander if it's dusk).

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