F-466 Trailing Edge Fillet???

Missing piece? F-466 Trailing Edge Fillet???

A friend of mine recently purchased an RV-4 and after getting it home and further inspection, we've discovered his airplane is missing a part that mine has... It's the fillet between the fuse/cockpit area and the tailcone of the airplane.



I went back, looked at my set of plans and sure enough, there it is, F-466. My question is, how many (if any) RV's are flying around out there without this? Is is structural or purely a cosmetic/aerodynamic piece? My RV-4 does have this F-466 piece and it seems to have 15+ rivets holding it on making me wonder if it's structural. If nothing else, it gives my friend and I a reason to bend some sheet metal and learn some building techniques.

Just a fairing

It is simply a transition fairing with no structural value that blends the "square" fuselage to the radius of the belly skins . You could make and install one using solid or blind rivets. If I recall, its only .020" or .025" aluminum , but gives a nice clean look and better aerodynamics.

trailing edge fillet

It is actually .016. The plans call for a 90 degree bend, but is the aft portion of the fillet formed to match the tailcone?

RV-4 wing trailing edge fillet.

On our (my brother and me) RV-4, I made a cardboard model. When it fit correctly, I transferred it to .016? aluminum. I did not make to 90 degree bend as the instructions show. Mine is one changing radius bend. It looks very good. The front is a radius of maybe 1/4? inch gradually transitioning about a six or eight inch radius. I don?t have a picture of it. We built a -7A and a -4. I have the 7A here. My brother has the -4 there.

Yes. The aft end matches the radius of the tail cone.