Cleveland Cloudster 900 - Stab's Center Planking Complete

Electric Cloudster 900 Project

This morning it was raining and Sue had a dual dental appointments. First, I took her to the oral surgeon to get two abutments installed on her two Titanium implants, which took only a short time. Then we immediately drove over to the dentist office for a rather lengthy procedure. First impressions were taken from which two crowns will be made. Then the dentist fashioned to temporary caps and installed them on the abutments until the crowns are ready.  We will return in about three weeks to have the permanent crowns installed. So I did not get to work on the Cloudster 900 until after lunch.

 

I did manage to get the stab's center section fully planked with 1/16" sheet balsa. The bottom planking on the stab  is shown in the picture below.

 This picture shows the stab's top planking, leaving the slot in the center for the fin. Notice the two holes down in the slot for securing the fin.

 This picture shows the fin installed in the slot. There is still work to do on the fin's little leading edge fairing that goes up to the point of the stab. Once the stab's leading edge is trimmed and sanded to shape, the fin's fairing can then be made. 

 The picture below shows the squareness (90°) of the fin in the stab slot. If the fin is slightly out of square, which it generaly is, this can be corrected with the top planking by forcing fin into square and then gluing the planking in place.........................Tandy

 

Cleveland Cloudster 900 - Vertical Tail Hinges and Gussets

Electric Cloudster 900 Project

In the picture below, the fin has been slipped down into the center slot in the stab between the two 1/8" ribs. The first rib bay on either side of the fin will get planked with 1/16" balsa sheet.

 This picture taken from the bottom of the stab shows the two 2-56 Cap screws that secure the fin in the stab slot. The bottom of the stab will also get planked with 1/16" balsa sheet between the two 1/16" plywood supports.

 Klett hinges were selected for the control surfaces of the Cloudster 900. The two halves of a Klett hinge is shown below. Notice that the tongues of the hinge will extend out the back of the 1/4" post.  

 The tongues of the hinges were inserted through the 1/4" posts and the portion that extended out the back was boxed in with balsa as shown below. 

 Two of the three vertical tail hinges were installed today. In the picture below, you are looking at the fin's rear post that shows two hinge halves with the .032" hinge wire going through each. 

 In addition, gussets were added to the 1/16" ribs to prevent the covering from crushing the 1/16" ribs into the medium soft balsa leading and trailing edges. The completed vertical tail is shown below. All that remains if to sand the fin and rudder to final shape with rounded leading edge and tapered trailing edge..........................Tandy Walker