Again the removable window channel was removed for this operation and then clecoed back in place after the glue had dried.
Now the final trimming can be done. The fabric was cut around the rear
window leaving an extra 1" to wrap inside. The fabric was notched like
we did at the vertical fin, wrapped and glued inside the window frame:
Again the removable window channel was removed for this operation and then
clecoed back in place after the glue had dried.
Here is what the inside looks like at this point from the firewall looking
aft into the tail:
Note the Flap cables, Rudder cables, Elevator cables, tail light and elevator
trim wires have all been run back to the tail. The white tubing hanging down
in the middle is the static tube for the airspeed indicator. Ports will later
be installed on the fuselage sides just aft of the baggage compartment
and this tube will attach to a "T" to them and then run up to the airspeed
indicator (in my case, the Dynon D100).
All of the fabric was trimmed for a 1" overlap and final glued in place, overlapping the fabric on the bottom by 1".
Now its time to start the shrinking process. Here is my friend Mickey starting the gradual shrinking of the fabric. We started at 225 degrees and shrunk all of the fabric evenly, then went up to 250 degrees, then finished up with 350 degrees. The irons were re-calibrated before starting this process.
Before & After
Here is the right side of the vertical fin transition area before
shrinking:
Note the wrinkles.
Here it is after 250 degrees:
Wrinkles are gone and its only going to get tighter when we take it to 350
degrees.
As you can see, we ended up with a beautiful transition that will be looked at by many eyes at the fly-ins. This tends to be one of the most looked at areas of a fabric covered airplane so take your time and get this area looking good.
During the entire shrinking process, a lot of attention must be paid to the
seam area along the top, left stringer. As you shrink the fabric, this
seam tends to "walk" a little. Heat it slowly, and evenly from left
side to right side, alternating back and forth to keep the seam centered
and straight. The seam will be covered with tape but you will still
be able to see it, so take your time and keep straight.
Once we had shrunk everything to 250 degrees, I went ahead and rib laced
the ribs on the vertical fin.
To get a nice transition as shown above, do your rib lacing after shrinking the fabric at 250 degrees. Then when you are doing the final shrink at 350 degrees, go easy on the inside curve at the base of the vertical fin.