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Should I fiberglass parts during the test fit process?

74Papa

Member
I'm getting ready to test fit the wings and tail sections. Question - would this be a good time to get into the fiberglass parts (not counting the canopy) at this point or wait until another time?

Thanks,
Danny
 
Hi Danny,

I installed aligned and drilled the vertical and horizontal stab, installed and finished the rear fiberglass saddle and then started on the vertical and horizontal stab with the parts still on the fuselage.
I found it easy to work on the parts in situ as mine was a tail dragger so I could easily reach the fairings on the vertical and horizontal stabs.

For the wings, I installed, aligned and drilled the rear spar, then the front fuel support brackets, trimmed flaps as necessary, removed flaps, then removed wings to a cradle and installed the wing tips and strobes. I found it quite easy working on the wing tips with the wings in the cradle.

This worked for me and I can think of no negatives of doing it now before the fuselage is complete.

Cheers
 
I fit the tail fairing when I finished the VS/HS rigging. That was the one and only time I had the tail all together until completion. Wing tip fitup was done with the wing laying on the building table where the aileron rigging could be done easily and access to take the tip on and off. Wing doesn't have to mounted to the fuse to setup the tips. However, during wing rigging. I did put the flaps & ailerons on to ensure they all matched up when rigged in the neutral position.
Does that make sense?
 
I did the same as rv9av8r ... on each of the FG parts and places he mentions.
Re: Wingtips ...you'll have to check to assure that the correctly rigged ailerons align with the wingtips correctly. If they don't, you may need to split and re-bond the wingtips. Sounds like a big deal but it's not.
 
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