Comet Sailplane Project
I have been struggling for the better part of
three days with the rudder push rod tube exit out the right side of the
fuselage. Back in Report No. 28, I showed the picture below of the
rudder push rod. The problem is related to the somewhat shallow angle that
the rudder push rod makes with the side of the fuselage as you can clearly
see below.
To begin with, I drilled out a 1/4" balsa block
and epoxied it in place over the rudder push rod tube as shown
(the block on the left in the picture below).
Before I finished, I ended up with a total of
four separate balsa block pieces to fit, sand, and fair in the rudder push
rod tube and to frame in the rudder tiller
(control horn) rectangular
opening shown below.
Once this had been accomplished, I was able to
then install the two lower stringers on the right side as shown below.
Here is a close up of the stringer fillets that
were added at their attach point to the forward planking.
I particularly wanted you to see the close up
view below of how the lower 1/8" square stringer is integrated into the
structure around the radio switch push-pull outlet.
Below is shown a right side view of how the
rudder push rod exits the fuselage and attaches to the rudder tiller. This
is a long slender structural area under the stab and was particularly
difficult for me to get right. I still have to fill in the void above the
top stringer with balsa. Then I can glue on the rest of the stab platform
planking forward, between, and aft of the two 1/8" plywood stab mounting
plates.
This is a bottom view of the aft fuselage
structure under the stab showing how the shallow angle that the rudder push
rod makes with the side of the fuselage was preserved. Of course the 1/4"
sub rudder has not been sanded to shape yet and is not yet glued in place.
I want to close this report with this picture of
the overall Sailplane structure to give you a feel for how this project is
progressing. I plan to lay up the primary structure of the pylon next so I
can complete the structure in the top of the
fuselage....................Tandy
