The second assembly I completed was the horizontal stabilizer. This follows a similar process as the vertical stabilizer, except it is larger, there are two skins, and the front spar requires some trimming and bending. Initial assembly of the rear spar. Here the center hinge bracket and bearing can be seen already riveted, which will eventually attach to the elevators. I made my first major mistake when working on one of the front spars....
I started by building the vertical stabilizer. This is supposedly the most simple assembly of the kit. Vertical stabilizer drawing taped to wall After flattening the spar reinforcement which comes in the kit with a curve from the coil of material it is manufactured from, I assembled the skeleton. Vertical stabilizaor skeleton Next, the skin was also cleco-clamped into place. Initial assembly of vertical stabilizaor with skin...
I’ve started building a Vans RV-7A homebuilt aircraft. I ordered the empennage kit in May 2022. The factory estimated delivery in approximately 11 months. A long time to wait, but I still needed to setup a workshop, buy lots of tools, and learn the process of aircraft building. However, the kit arrived at the end of June, after just 2 months. A flying example of the RV-7A kit...