1/3 scale Grunau Baby IIb by Schneider - Empennage
Rudder and elevator :
Here the almost finished tailplane, elevators are hinged, servo is installed in the centerbox, all that remains to do is the LE sheeeting.
The tailplane is located in its position by the 2 wooden dowels, and secured with one M4 nylon bolt. The electrical connection is made
automatically by the fixed connectors, when installing the tailplane.
Here the hinging method used on the elevator, as well as on the rudder :
A plastic bowden-type pushrod housing is embedded in the LE of the elevator or rudder, then slots are cut into the LE of the
elevator, all the way through the pushrod housing.
At the corresponding location on the stabilizer TE, slots are cut to accommodate the hinge points. These are cut a little
oversize, to allow some "wiggle room" to get everything aligned just right. Once everything is in it's position, I just tack the
hinge points in position with a drop of CA, remove the hinge pin and control surface, and install the reinforcement blocks
of balsa, with epoxy.
This method is a little tedious to fabricate, but the result is a slop-free hinge arrangenment, with all the hinges perfectly
aligned, something I always had trouble with, when using the little plastic hinges, or the knuckle-type hinges from Robart.
Hinge pin housing Hinge points sots and hinge pin
Installed
I decided to skin the whole structure with 1/64 ply, instead of only the leading edges.
This is not included in the kit, I decided on this modification to improve the appearance pf the whole empennage
Here the almost finished tail group, only the top of the rudder still needs it's plywood skin.
