Carlson Skunk Works

How about this? Two posts within a couple of weeks! However, that means that I must be making progress, right?

In my last post I made a comment about probably needing to notch the trailing edge of the wing to accommodate the aileron control horn when the aileron is pulled fully up. Randy emailed me suggesting that I rebuild the control horn to eliminate that requirement. I thought that was a good idea, so here is what I came up with:

As long as I was at it I decided to move the hole where the cable connects to the control horn about 1 1/4″ aft. That would allow me to eliminate the 1″ x 1″ square tube spacer between the rear spar and the cable mounting plate. So what I came up with are the pieces to the right of the two sets. The original control horns are the ones that lean to the right and the new ones sort of look like a hand with the index finger pointing up. I took the new control horns out to the plane and found out that they needed to be thinned a bit. The aft area needed to have a very shallow “V” removed to fit into the aileron.

Once the new control horns were fitted and the spacers were removed, things look pretty good.

Full down is about equal to the full up deflection.

Removing the spacers allows the cable mounting plate to fit flat to the front of the rear spar. I think this gives it a bit more stability than with the spacers. However, even with the spacers it was pretty solid. This should also save a few ounces.

The other thing that I forgot to get some pictures of earlier is the pitot static tube installation.

It is a bit difficult to see because the tubes sort of blend in with the ribs, but it shows where I have located the pitot static tubes. By positioning them between the wing and struts I am hoping to avoid walking into them at some point in the future.

I used plywood to build up a mounting area for the assembly. I drilled three 1/4″ holes and used three AN4 bolts to secure the assembly to the wing.

This is a little more clear, but the internal bracing strap blocks the view of the top mounting bolts.

So one of the issues I will be facing when I cover the wing is how to apply the fabric and allow for the pitot static tubes. But there is plenty of time to figure that out.