Interesting idea. You are talking about the entire structure being made of carbon fiber except the fittings, right? Maybe the elevators would be an even better way to save weight in the back. I am too close to flying to do it myself but am sure interested in how it would work.
If you go with it, keep me up to date.
You are right Kyle. More of a Lancair type process. I was thinking some of the ribs and other parts may be unnecessary with the stiffness of the carbon skins. I have a Catto carbon fiber spinner and it is as cool as it gets!
Well yeah. Our control surface skins are a 1/4" thick sandwich of glass/foam/glass which are fairly stiff. Rather than pre-punched aluminum, we got pre-molded fiberglass skins. This is my horizontal stabilizer, but the control surfaces use the same technique. You can see where the foam core ends near the leading edge.I'm sure the Lancair folks took that into account of course.
Well yeah. Our control surface skins are a 1/4" thick sandwich of glass/foam/glass which are fairly stiff. Rather than pre-punched aluminum, we got pre-molded fiberglass skins. This is my horizontal stabilizer, but the control surfaces use the same technique. You can see where the foam core ends near the leading edge.
Frankly, I don't think the idea of going to carbon fiber control surfaces makes sense unless you want to build the molds and set up a vacuum autoclave in your garage.
Those are Nylon tubing. Originally I had the great idea of installing a VOR antenna inside the horizontal stabilizer. Unfortunately, the ends of the tubing are so far back in the tailcone now that there's no way to reach them. Oh well, it seemed like a good idea at the timeSnopercod: what are those white cords that are glassed into the skin on a diagonal?