2008 - Page 2

May 24th, 2008 4.5 hrs - 209.5 total. Finished making clamping forms and got them all clamped in place. Removed elevator from jig. Cleaned up and sanded under side of glue joints. Set up a table in the garage and moved the stabilizer and elevator into the garage and clamped them to the table. Made up three clamping spacers to go between the elevator spar and stabilizer spar. Instructions called for 4" X 4" X 1 & 15/16" blocks. Couldn't find any stock so went and bought a 4X6 beam and chopped the end off to use for stock to make the blocks. Now that they are clamped in place its clear that the only dimension that matters is the 1 & 15/16. The others are arbitrary. Could have just glued some 2x4s together instead of buying a beam!

May 25th, 2008 5.0hrs - 214.5 hrs total. Re-aligned and re-clamped tail to work table. Re-aligned and re-clamped elevator to stabilizer. Fine adjusted gap between elev and stab by sanding down spare blocks. Clamped in wingtip clamping jigs. Marked and cut off ends of stab main spar and elevator spar. Sanded ends of spars and ends of all ribs to follow contour of edge laminates. Rechecked lengths on all ribs for correct length, sanded down as needed. Went and bought some 12' X 1" X 2" fir trim stock. Set up table saw and ripped them into 1/8" X 1 3/4" strips. Surprisingly flexible at 1/8"
thick! Dry fit one around wingtip contour with no problem. Re-moved and re-cut clamping block between elevator ribs #1 & #2 as called out in instructions to act as starting point for gluing on the edge laminates. Distance all the way round is 240" so will need a scarf joint in each wrap.

The tail assembly in the photos is clamped to the table ups

Stabilizer clamped to table and elevator clamped to stab with critical gap distance (1 15/16") maintained by three blocks and wingtip forms. Note block at bottom of picture. You can see the port trim tab hinge plates - this will be the operational tab. The other will be fixed, but will be included for authenticity as the original Spitfire had tabs on both elevators.

The tail assembly in these photos is clamped to the table upside down - so my references to port and starboard sides may seem backwards.

Wingtip clamping block with loosely clamped edge laminate in place.

Edge laminate loosely clamped around wingtip contour.

May 28th, 2008 3.0hrs - 219.0 total. Removed strips from gluing clamps, sanded and cleaned up scarf joints. Clamped one of the strips all the way around the stabilizer and elevator for dry fit. Did final sanding on tips of ribs and spars to shape to contour. Shortened the jack ribs by about 1/4" to get them to fit. Drilled and temporarily tacked first laminate in place. Cut to length. Need to prep for gluing with wax paper then should be ready to glue it on. Its actually starting to look like part of an airplane!
May 30th, 2008 - 0 time - doesn't count for work on plane. Bought a couple of equipment stands, put them together and brought the band saw and belt/disc sander up from the basement into the garage. Re-arranged a bunch of the clamps to try to free up enough for upcoming laminate gluing task.
May 31st, 2008 6.0hrs - 225.0 total. Cut and formed all of the backing laminate pieces that go between the stabilizer ribs behind the first laminate. Prepped for the glue job by covering anything that should be glued with wax paper or masking tape. Glued the first laminate all the way around then glued in all the backing laminate pieces. Took three batches of glue - the largest glue job I've done yet!

June 1st 2008 1.5hrs - 226.5 total. Removed clamps holding on backing laminate layer. Removed all clamping blocks from stabilizer section except end blocks. Sanded down external side of first laminate to prep for next layer. Glued 3rd laminate strip all the way around on top of first.
June 11, 2008 2.0hrs - 228.5 total.. Have done a little work off and on over the last few days. After the 3rd laminate layer dried, removed all the clamps. Got out the elevator horn ribs and dry fit them in place. Found that the drawings and full size template clearly show the parts - which I made exactly as shown, but the WRITTEN
directions mention "be sure to add 1/4" on all sides" when you make these parts to allow them to be sanded to shape. Sure enough they are too small and will have to be re-made. Would have been nice if that was mentioned somewhere - ANYWHERE - on the plans! Have spent quite a bit of time reading over the directions to be sure I clearly
understand what's coming up next.

June 13, 2008 2.5hrs - 231.0 total. Traced and rough cut new horn ribs and end plates. Started measuring for positioning pieces into elevator and stabilizer assy. Not an easy task! Determined that I cut the elevator 1/8 longer on the starboard side. Also that positioning measurements on the plans are made with all of the laminates in place, but at this point in the assembly process the last four laminates haven't been installed yet. Strapped some small pieces of laminate in place to simulate the extra size and remeasured. Its starting to come together, but is very confusing and I want to be sure I get it right!
June 14, 2008 1.5hrs - 232.5 total. Finalized position of elevator horn ribs and marked them. Cut off the ends of the horiz stab rear spar to approximate length. Dry fit new over sized horn ribs, cut and sanded to shape. Had them fitting nicely when I realized I needed to allow an extra 1/16" for the end plates. Got one of them adjusted, still needed to do the other. Haven't cut the lightening holes in them yet either.

June 16th, 2008, 1.0hrs - 239.0 total. Removed clamps from last nights gluing. Made ip 7/16" spacers for stab back plate spacing. Marked stab rear spar at points where backing plate needs to fit. Will need to make some small spruce blocking to fit between spar flanges at end of spar then shape backing plates to fit before gluing them in.
June 17, 2008 .5hrs - 239.5 total. Took some measurements for the blocking. made a sample piece, turned out too small. Decided I need to cut the spars first. Re-measured and marked end points of rear spar. Cut off ends of port spar rough sanded down to shape.
June 18, 2008 2.0hrs - 241.5 total. Finished cutting and sanding both ends of the trailing edge spars to shape. Made spruce filler blocks for both ends. Cut and sanded stab backing plates to fit. Still need to cut lightening holes in them.
June 19, 2008 2.0hrs - 243.5 total. Cut lightening holes in endplates and sanded by hand.

June 20, 2008 2.5hrs - 246 total. Dry fit the endplates again. Didn't like the fit
of the blocking for the ends of the spars so re-made them. Made up blocking for
backing plate behind leading edge. Preped surfaces and glued in place.

June 21, 2008 4.5 hrs - 250.5 total. Removed clamps and temporary spacer. Cleaned up broken glue joints on two of the elevator ribs where I popped the laminates off accidentally. Prepped them to be re-glued. Sanded #2 elevator rib trailing edge down a little to make it match the other side of the elevator, looks much better now. Cleaned up the outside of the existing laminates on the elevator, prepared for gluing. Couldn't find anywhere where it clearly stated how many layers were on the elevator. Called Terry and confirmed it was 2 more - total of 4 - creating a trailing edge piece 1/2" thick. Prepared some laminate material. Glued on the last two laminate layers on the elevator and clamped in place. Also re-glued the two popped glue joints mentioned above.
June 22, 2008 3.5 hrs - 254 total. Removed clamps from laminates. Cleaned up glue joints at trailing edge of elevator all around to allow for tight fit of spruce blocking. Started making blocking for elevator trailing edge. Dry fit the trim tab ribs. Looks like a couple of them are too short and will have to be re-made. Am supposed to separate the elevator from the stab at this point, but am going to leave them connected until all the sanding and shaping of the spars, blocking and laminates are complete.

June 24, 2008 2.5hrs - 256.5 total. Rough trimmed laminates on elevator starboard side top and bottom, and port side bottom, but broke glue joints at three ribs on port side so will wait till blocking is glued in before trimming the rest of the laminates. Finished making all the blocking for the elevator that can be seen on my version of the plans. Terry is sending a new copy with the plywood covering layer hidden so I can see what goes under there. Will finish the blocking when I get that drawing.

June 25, 2008 3.5hrs - 260 total. Got drawing and made missing elevator blocking pieces. All the rest looked a little large. Rechecked and found them all a little over sized. Cut and sanded them all down to size and shape. Glued in all elevator blocking. Used extra glue to go around and re-seal and touch up some areas with small gaps in the glue. Got bigger glue cups and put crushed ice in one with a little water then nest a second cup with the epoxy into the first. Glue gets very cold and slightly thick which is easier to work with, and lasts for about an hour! Before I would get as little as five minutes before it would start to bake off. The longer work time allows me to slow down
and do a much more thorough job of positioning, gluing and clamping the parts.
June 26, 2008 0.5hrs - 260.5 total. Removed clamps from elevator blocking. Started working on trim tab ribs. Most are sanded too small and need to be re-made.

June 27, 2008 1.5hrs - 262 total. Re-made most of the trim tab ribs from scratch. They are all ready now. Need to put laminate layer between ribs behind existing laminate to lock them in place the same as was done on the stab leading edge ribs.

June 28, 2008 2.0hrs - 264 total. Cut backing laminate pieces to shape. Glued them in along with all the ribs in both trim tabs. Once these dry it will be time to trim all the laminates and sand everything to shape.
June 29, 2008 5.5hrs - 269.5 total, Removed clamps and started sanding. Soon
discovered it was going to take forever so went and bought a hand held 3" belt sander.
Finished sanding the bottom side of the entire stab and elevator structure. Unclamped
from work table and was able to lift and turn over the assembly without any trouble
by myself. I could lift it easily with one hand. Must weight about 25 to 35 lbs. Clamped it back down to the table, trimmed off some more laminates with the jig saw then started sanding and shaping the top side. Was getting tired and starting to make
mistakes so decided to stop for the night.

Bruce's Spitfire

2008 - Page 2

The tail assembly in the photos is clamped to the table ups

Wingtip clamping block with loosely clamped edge laminate in place.

Edge laminate loosely clamped around wingtip contour.

It takes a lot of clamps to keep the laminate layers tight around the curved profile.

Gluing the second layer of laminate to the back of the first between the ribs really locks the ribs in place.

Gluing on the 3rd laminate layer. Most of the clamping blocks have been removed now

Elevator horn rib clamped in place. 1/16" face plate is lying next to it. Elevator nose rib #1 is dry fit into the front of the spar to help in positioning the horn rib.

Elevator horn backing plate glued in place with spruce blocking pieces installed.

Stab backing plate and blocking glued in place

Elevator blocking dry fit on starboard side (assembly is upside down)

Trim tab ribs dry fit. This is the bottom of the starboard side

Elevator separated from stabilizer. Sanding laminates to shape