Horizontal Stab with additional wooden ribs

[David Weber]

I have Kit and bought the wooden add on's for the ribs.

Question: Do you take the stock trim tab attachment part and weld on some additional length to stick down through the fabric, or do you take some AL and make a piece to install into the fabric to keep the original trim tab piece in its original size?

[Battson]

The original trim tab piece can be used. Remember the fabric will scallop between the ribs, so there's more room for the trim drive than it appears there will be.

I did install an aluminium wear plate to protect the fabric - this proved important because the fabric does beat quite a lot. The plate takes a lot of wear.

The wear plate is a source of that "black smoke" stuff, Aluminium Oxide Al2-O3, where the bolt wears against the aluminium plate. You can minimise that smoke / wear by adding a few extra washers to the bolt, to spread the load [reduce the pressure] and significantly slow the wear process.

A note about the trim drive, be sure to use slightly long bolts. If you have any thread side the holes, the vibration / beating at the tail will cause the thread to oval out those holes in no time at all. Then you have to bush them

[Mark Goldberg]

I thought Bob looked at that and told me that the normal parts should extend below the fabric even with the wood strips in place, Mark