I’m awaiting delivery of the avionics harness from Approach Fast Stack so I decided to tackle a task I’ve been avoiding for more than 13 years – fitting fiberglass tips to the horizontal stabilizer, elevators, vertical stabilizer and rudder. I’ve said before that I hate working with fiberglass and that’s still the case.
Van’s ships the elevator tips with no front end and recommends fairing over the counterweight with an epoxy/flox fill, essentially making it non removable. I decided to add a thin fiberglass layer over but not attached to the counterweight so that I can remove the tip later on if necessary.
Tip prep was simply sanding down the front surfaces to give the layup something to bond do.
![Elevator tip prepped](https://mightyrv.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/2018-10-20-15.58.40-1024x768.jpg)
I laid up 3-4 layers of 9 oz BID cloth over the counterweights and front of the tip. Before doing that I covered the elevator and counterweight with clear packing tape as a mold release.
![Fiberglass ready to apply](https://mightyrv.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/2018-10-20-16.05.13-1024x768.jpg)
The layup initially looked too thick but when I sanded it down to match the elevator and HS tip there wasn’t much left – but there really doesn’t need to be.
![Initial fiberglass layups](https://mightyrv.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/2018-10-20-16.36.32-1024x768.jpg)
Here’s the inside of the tip after removal..it conformed pretty nicely but I had some voids in the cloth that required some additional epoxy to fill.
![Interior of tip after removal](https://mightyrv.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/2018-10-21-15.29.32-e1543246765403-768x1024.jpg)
After sanding and before priming…looks good!
![Finish-sanded tip](https://mightyrv.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/2018-11-04-17.55.35-e1543246825826-768x1024.jpg)
The HS tips come without a back end and there’s no requirement to add one but they look better and more “finished” if they’re closed – so that’s what I did, using the foam technique in Section 5 of the instructions and and a sheet of pink foam insulation from the aircraft construction department at Home Depot.
![HS tips covered](https://mightyrv.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/2018-11-04-17.55.21-e1543246905233-768x1024.jpg)
The same foam closeout technique was used on the VS tip…already done in the pic below.
The rudder upper fairing was a really poor fit, a common complaint with previous versions of fiberglass parts shipped by Van’s. I had to build up the front end with balsa and fiberglass, and apply epoxy and microbaloons to fill gaps on either side.
![Upper VS and rudder tips](https://mightyrv.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/2018-11-10-10.18.14-e1543247198111-768x1024.jpg)
Surprisingly, the rudder lower end cap fit pretty well when trimmed to the scribe marks applied by Van’s. I decided to make it removable by adding #6 platenuts to fairing attach points on the rudder.
![Lower rudder cap](https://mightyrv.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/2018-11-12-15.48.42-1024x768.jpg)
The lower end cap looks good now, but pop-riveting the nav/strobe light attach plate caused the fairing to crack (shit!) so I had to mix up some epoxy and flox for a fix.
![Lower rudder tip fitted](https://mightyrv.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/2018-11-25-18.10.03-1024x768.jpg)
Here are all the emp tips sealed and primed with K36 primer to protect them until time for paint.
!["Finished" emp tips](https://mightyrv.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/2018-11-25-18.09.56-1024x768.jpg)