The vertical stabilizer is built in much the same way as the horizontal stab.  If you haven’t read that page yet, click here to read it.  The same techniques apply to the vertical stab. 

Again, I found laying the VS-803PP rear spar flat on the horizontal bar of the jig and drilling right into the wood an easy way to hold the pieces steady while I worked on them.

Before you rivet the skeleton of your vertical stab together, think about your electric system.  Will you have a stobe light at the top of your stab?  Will you ever in the future want to run wires through the stab?  Even though I am not putting a strobe up there, I still prepped for future wiring. I enlarged the aft tooling holes and installed bushings in the VS-704, VS-706 and VS-707.  Then after the skeleton was riveted together, I ran a piece of string through the holes and duct taped it to the VS-704 and VS-706.  If ever in the future I want to run a wire, all I have to do is tape it to the string and pull it through.

As before with the horizontal stab, clamping during riveting is critical.  Before the VS-803PP is clecoed in place, it is easy to clamp the skin to the workbench.  After clecoing the VS-803PP, either squeeze the rivets, or clamp the stab with the rear spar hanging off the end of the bench.

Attachment Photos

Rear Attachment

Lower Rear Attachment

Next, read the Rudder section.

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