The elevator tips are done, and that's a check list item. Well, it was a check list item.  Yea! The tail fairings will be done soon. There are only fourteen (14) "build-install" items left, many of which are partially done, or just "re-install" easy. Things are looking up.

While waiting for the new panel Click Bonds to cure, I finally got working on the right elevator tip. (I seriously screwed up the first attempt way back, and had to wait months for a replacement part.) The first photo shows the installation of the EL-30 "tip rib" inside the elevator tip. The manual calls for a piece of ST-31 channel (0.20) about 3-1/2" long. I found that a piece that long, when pushed into the tip far enough to provide clearance for the elevator flange, would either distort the tip shape or become distorted itself. A length of  3-1/4" of was better. It's important to keep the short EL-30 rib oriented squarely to the tip in all dimensions, to avoid distorting the tip, and that requires doing the position and hole layout on the fiberglass tip.

The first step was to draw a center line on the rib flanges where the holes would go. Then I laid out the three holes for each flange on the fiberglass, and drilled them. Next, the rib was put inside the fiberglass in the position shown, and maneuvered until the line drawn on the tip flange appeared in the fiberglass hole, and drilling through the metal flange, clecoing, and finishing the other holes in like fashion.

The second photo shows layout of the forward edge from the bottom side. The extra notch, just left of the top silver cleco, is necessary to allow the rotating tip to clear the roughly 1/4" of right stablizer rear spar that extends out past the elevator hinge, as shown in the third photo, below. This was also present on the left elevator tip which was completed several months ago.

At last, the fiberglass windshield retainer is finally ready for paint. Doesn't look like much has happened since the last photo, but many hours have been added since then, including trimming and shaping the ends to interface with the metal side retainers, adjusting final thicknesses along the whole length, detail fills here and there, and on and on. It's hard to believe that so far, I have more than 60 hours invested in making this one part. When the paint work is done, sometime next week, the windshield will finally get installed, and there will be some serious celebration.

Time to get serious about finishing the fiberglass windshield retainer. The first photo shows the first rough cut along the top and bottom edges with the Dremel metal cutter wheel, which goes through the fiberglass very fast. Too fast. (At this point all work on the retainer is nerve wracking -- because it would be very difficult to build another one at all, much less to fit the existing rivet hole pattern already drilled in the top of the fuselage.) All the retainer's rivet holes have been cleared out by back drilling through the filler from the backside using special plexiglass/plastic drill bits. The edge lines need to be cut and sanded down quite a bit more -- the whole thing will be narrower when done -- but the second photo shows an interim test fit back on the plane, and it's starting to look very nice indeed.

At last the fiberglass windshield retainer has been removed from the fuselage. As I expected it took four coats of filler and many hours of sanding to get the final surface shaped and very smooth. What I didn't anticipate is that, including sanding of the fiberglass and fourt coats of filler, it took over 12 hours of sanding. Hmm. Must be missing some essential technique. Anyway, it's done. The first two photos show closeups after sanding after the third coat of filler. One more coat was needed.

The third photo shows the retainer right after careful separation from the fuselage, before any trimming. It's a view you probably won't see on other airplane building web sites -- because it's sooo ugly! 

The final photo below shows the retainer after the initial trim cut. It will take quite a bit more work to reach the final shape, but this represents completion of the hard part. The rest of the windshield job should be all downhill from here. [Ed.: Why does he keep saying things like that?]

The fiberglass windshield retainer after first sanding of the first filler coating.

Slathering on some fiberglass impregnated auto body filler to round out the bump left in the fiberglass by the rubber channel under the bottom of the windshield.

Lots of sanding on the windshield retainer today. First, an hour or so of sanding to clean up the fiberglass itself. Then another hour drawing bigger darker trim lines. A first application of fiberglass impregnated body filler went next. (Because I have a rather hefty rubber channel on the bottom of the windshield, some considerable fairing work is needed to smooth out the rubber channel's bump in the fiberglass.) After that cured, about two hours of hand sanding, then another smaller coat of the same filler... which is curing now. I expect it will take two more applications of lightweight top coat filler to get it done right, so three more sandings, starting tomorrow. For now, just tired shoulders.