Buidling the Tail Surfaces

The first piece to be cut. This is the trailing edge of the left horizontal stabilizer.

The profile of the left horizontal stab has been measured out and secured to the table. The tail surfaces of the Kolb line are "plans built." This means you take raw tubing stock and fabricate all of the tubes and gussets per a set of plans. This is time consuming.

The first gusset is held in place by clecoes. Clecoes are spring loaded temporary rivets. They allow you to hold things together for trial fitting before you put in a permanent rivet.

The first finished joint. Experienced builders will notice that I forgot to round the gusset corners for the fabric. This won't be the first mistake. The trick to mistakes is not to make any structurally harmful ones!

The tail post. All of the stress on the tail hinges on this key piece. The large ring fits onto the 5" aluminum tube that makes up the aft fuselage.

This is the outline of the right elevator. These surfaces were built using the alternate method shown in the plans. This will give a nice smooth look to the finished surface.

The horizontal stabs and elevators complete and hinged. Almost ready to cover!

The vertical stab and rudder complete and temporarily attached to fuselage tube in the hallway.

Tail surfaces temporarily attached to the fuse tube. Guy wires were later temporarily rigged and then the whole thing disassembled and taken to the living room for storage.