Okay Guys! Brad has the newer "V" after MAM changed the tooling set up. Dale
you probably have the older one...even though you both have about 14 1/4" on
the aft opening width. I'm basing that "guess" on the fact that you have a
1997 kit Dale and I advised Brian Godden of this problem March 19, 2002 and
have attached the email correspondence below, from after we talked about it,
(and also note that no SB was ever published on this.... so bet there will
be a lot of angry individuals out there before they get their Moose flying!)
The important dimension here is the fwd opening width. It was originally
approximately 3 inches. If you have one that is 3 inches you need to trim
the v open. The only clean way to do this is to just make it an even trim
along the existing rivet holes. On the newer tooling MAM left the aft
dimension the same and widened the fwd dimension to 3 3/4" as Brad has
shown...and thus a different opening angle. Trimming your old one out will
give you a wider aft dimension when you are done...but so what..more rudder
clearance when you've got a pedal to the floor fighting the x wind !
Suggest that MAM posts this up on the SR/Moose Tech bulletin "to check the
Elevator V opening to have the 14 1/4" x 3 3/4" dimensions and if you have
an older version that has only 3" opening width at the forward end of the
V....then you need to trim the V back to remove the prepunched holes to get
sufficient clearance around the rear fin post. Best done before you start
building the elevator (or closing it for the third time)...but anytime
before you try airframe assembly would be a good idea ! :o((
Cheers,
Wayne
................................................
email to Brian Godden 19/03/2002<<
Hi Brian, spent that hour (4 actually) f$*#%ng around with the
elevator/stab/fin post fitting to see what I have for clearance. NONE! Gave
up even trying to get the hinge bolts in. That center hinge hole looks like
the greatest place to try and get a bolt, let alone the nut and cotter!
I guess the fact that the stab hinges are .080 further back, after the 3500
upgrade, and the fin spar caps are now a total thickness of 1/8 per side (as
opposed to 1/16 on the 2500) that took all the clearance away. It must have
been really tight to start with though. I guess the prototype you did the
changes too must have been built a little different than production as mine
is serial 17 and I'm in the same pickle as your QB.
I see a couple options for a "fix".
1/ The way you hacked it out and reinforced the back of the fin.
2/ Move the stab attach brackets/bulkheads ahead by 1/4 to 5/16" in future
kits
3/ Why not just trim the elevator skins back 1/2" to cut off clean at the
existing rivet holes in the skin and EL451? doubler and then move the ribs
outboard (away from the center) that 1/2" on each side to give the clearance
instead of changing any instructions for the spar caps/ fin post etc. For
guys that haven't done the elevator mod yet would be easiest and even with
the elevator done I think I might take that route and get the bonus of a
little more rudder availability. After all the rivets drilled out to date,
not a big deal to drill the cable horn "strap off" and the two ribs, trim
back the skin 1/2" and reassemble. Don't think the 1/2" missing in the
flange overlaps will hurt much and the rivet holes will have enough edge
distance between the old and the new to be alright.
I have to wonder how others that are flying have got enough clearance in
this area. I don't know if there are any 3500's flying yet, but the 2500
would have had some really close clearance as well and my first thought is
someone that didn't know the consequences may have mounted the stab fittings
in front of the double pickups (instead of between) to move the whole
assembly forward 3/16". This would put the attach bolts in singular shear
instead of the proper double shear when in between the double brackets. I
hope I'm wrong, but might be worth a Technical Advisor letter to save MAM's
bacon if someone did do it.
Let me know how you make out with all this as I am going to leave the SR
alone for now and get on with the Rebel repairs.
Cheers,
Wayne
................................................
----- Original Message -----
From: <
Nielsenbe@aol.com>
To: <
rebel-builders@dcsol.com>
Sent: Wednesday, December 08, 2004 7:26 PM
Subject: Re: elevator MOOSE
I am pretty sure I have the new style.....well at least I used wayne's
measurements last time and didn't change mine. I have kit #222 and the
measurements are
14 1/4 at the opening
3 3/4 at the back
16 1/2 deep
One thing that messed me up on the elevator was installing the doublers as
per the book moves those ribs out the thickness of the doubler. That is
only on
half the ribs. This will cause tension in the skin as well as moving all
the
extra to the other side. When you turn it over and try to cleco the guide
holes it makes a big bubble in the skin. Brian said the fast build kits
have
the ribs installed under the doublers and turned the other direction from
the
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