RV-9A: Tail Feathers - 3/16/2010
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 Time to trim the VS-702 forward spar on the Vertical Stabilizer
I got out Mr. Drimmel and we went to town. A pretty easy cut. A little sanding of the rough edges and I'm done!
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 Trial fit of the Vertical Stabilizer
I clamped the rear spar of the vertical stabilizer to the back of the F-912 bulkhead, centering it in the bulkhead. Then I set the height using the dimension on the drawings between the longeron and the hinge bracket. Even after doing this, I think I got the VS a little too far down.
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 Made the F-912D Up Elevator Stop and clamped it in place
Before clamping the F-912D Up Elevator Stop, I measured the distance from the top of the Vertical Stabilizer to the outer edges of the Horizontal Stabilizer and it was exactly 68 inches on each side. What luck! Then I drilled all the holes in the Elevator stop.
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 New toy!
I went to Lowes hoping to find some regular drill bits (non-aviation) that would screw into my pneumatic angle drill. No luck. But, I did find this little angle drill attachment. It's real intended use is for installing bolts in tight places. After looking around in the drill bit section of Lowes, I found these drill bits that would fit the attachment. I'm in business. Now I can drill those 3/16" holes in the F-912D Up Elevator Stop.
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 Everything is in place now
Next, I will need to establish where and how the forward end of the Vertical Stabilizer will be set and drilled.
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 Head scratchin' time... (again)
I put the Vertical Stabilizer forward spar on the forward side of the F-981 plate, which will be bolted to the fuselage. The when I checked the alignment of the rudder hinges in the rear of the Vertical Stabilizer, I found the that hinges didn't line up. There was a severe warp in the line, straight up and down. When I put a straight edge vertically on the aft end of the hinge brackets, the center bracket wasn't touching the straight edge. In other words, the top of the Vertical Stabilizer was arching (or bending) back too far because of the placement of the for VS spar. I went back to the instructions and it said that this situation might happen. It suggested that I mount the forward VS spar on the back of the F-981 plate. OK, I'm game. It worked! Everything lines up now!
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 So far so good
Now the instructions say to "Make the F-712E Tie-down bar shown on DWG 21". Holy crap! I made that dude back in July of 2008!! It would have been nice if the instructions would have said that back in the empennage section of instructions. Something like "Don't make this part now"? Well, it's made and installed, so I'll just have to deal with it. It shouldn't be problem though.
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