vert. stab. fairing

with my choice of wingtip lights i need a ''strobe'' on top of my vert stab. i would like to rivet anchor nuts to the stab and countersink holes in the fairing.
any insight on this? #6 or #8 screws?

Make sure to calculate weight and balance. And consider the aerodynamic changes. Not saying you should not put a strobe on the tail, just consider the affects.

Mich48041 said:

Make sure to calculate weight and balance. And consider the aerodynamic changes. Not saying you should not put a strobe on the tail, just consider the affects.

Click to expand...

Same thoughts as Joe.

For your information. Something to think about, when I was trying to mount my Nav antenna up there I was having troubles, until I did it upside down and used the top rib for a mounting and just let it stick up thru the fiberglass part, you can see it here: http://www.mykitlog.com/users/displ...TX&project=2429&category=0&log=200478&row=105

I retro fitted a Vor/GS cat whisker antenna at the top of my vertical stab. I drilled out the LP4-3 rivets and put in number 6 nut plates with counter sunk AN3 rivets.

The weight and balance should be checked, but I doubt the empty weight CG will shift more than the error margin of calculating the original empty CG.

Also keep in mind that a strobe on top of the vertical stabilizer will reflect off the wings and can be very annoying at night.

Mel has it right

My Yankee's strobe failed soon after I bought it so I replaced it with a "much better" one. Disliked it for the next 10 years. Wayne 120241/143WM

I think that the first RV-12 with a vert. stab strobe was done by Dick (Van the man himself). Search around and you will find info about it.

Tom

vert stab

thanks for the replys. i have thought about light into the cabin and also off the wings. i only need a narrow band straight to the rear so i can block/paint most of the light out that the strobe gives off.
i will check out what van did.

Im not sure how one is supposed to "consider" the aerodynamic changes.

Lots of airplanes have strobes or beacons on top of the fin. If it is goingto be near the hinge line it won't affect the aerodynamic balance or the mass balance so the effect should be minimal.

I recently completed a mod to put a light on the VS. Original placement was on top of the rudder but I had some concern with the areo balance so I moved it forward to the aft part of the VS. I sanded the gel coat down to the glass and used a thick slurry of micro to build up the mounting area to get a flat surface. After sanding to a shape I was happy with I put a layer of bi-direction glass over it. Took three applications of resin to get rid of the pinholes.

Although it is done and ready for paint, I am debating drilling a bigger hole and mounting the light from the bottom so only dome is showing. The forward part of the dome will also be blacked out for the final install. A future version will have a camera bubble to mount my Contour video camera if I can figure out distortion free plex/acrylic forming.

John Salak
RV-12 N896HS

vert stab.

hi john, just what i had in mind. probably would be cleaner if it was dropped into the fairing some but it looks good like it is. are you attaching with rivets or screws?

I will be using screws, it needs to be removable so that I can get to VOR/LOC antenna.

John Salak
RV-12 N896HS