Over the last couple of weeks, Dad and I worked on the elevator and horizontal stabilizer fairings. Dad spent a lot of time getting the fairings to fit just right: trimming, glueing/glassing, sanding, and repeat. These fairings fit very well, and the gap between the HS and Elevator fairing is exactly where it should be. Dad was able to add a little curve to the aft edge of the HS fairing, which allows for a constant gap between the forward edge of the elevator fairing and the HS fairing, throughout the full range of elevator travel.
We also spent time sealing the area around the counterweight on the inside of the elevator tip, leaving one small exit hole on the aft end for draining any water that makes it into the elevator tip. Hopefully the sealant will keep any water penetration to a minimum.
Despite Dad’s near perfect fairing between the aluminum and fiberglass, once I started riveting the fairings, the rivets introduced a little bit of pillowing. It’ll need one more pass to fair it out before it’s final painted.
