The tail parts are completely finished since quite some time and there is nothing really special about it. One remark only: I built the elevator frame on its lower sheeting as this yields more stiffness for beveling into the required wedge shape before the upper sheeting is applied.
The dihedral of the model is the same as the full size plane at 3.5° per side. This angle cannot be accomodated by canting the tube between the lower and upper wing spar which requires bending the rod and its permanent installation in the fuselage. This in turn is somewhat “bulky” in transportation and storage. Therefore I went the same way as with my 1:5 1-23 by cutting the rod in the middle and building a joiner box which provides the proper angle.
Only a few steps are required: 5 mm aircraft ply is used for the box itself after the brass tubing was cut and soft-soldered (for sealing against the epoxy) at a 7° angle in a simple jig.
For the final bonding step, everything was aligned with shims in order to keep the assembly straight for a rectangular wing fit.
Under g-loads, the highest stress will be exerted onto the middle of the box and therefore I wrapped it with numerous layers of glass tissue and an adequate but small amount of epoxy.
A final remark should be added: The pictures show a 12 mm steel rod which I use instead of the normally provided ½” aircraft type high strength aluminum rod. The reason is that the rod was arriving a bit belated and that it is easier to replace the rod in case of loss. I am using the aluminum rod on my 1:5 1-23 without any problems and there is reason whatsoever to assume that the ½” rod would not do its job with perfection. Maybe interesting to know, high strength aluminum wing joiners are completely unknown in Germany even though they offer a lightweight solution between steel and steel tubing/carbon fiber combinations.
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