Installing the horizontal stabilizer

The first step in the horizontal stab installation was to slide the stab into the slot and get it centered up. I drew a line down the centerline of the fuse and measured my stab. Mine is exactly 26" so each stab tip needed to be 13" away from the centerline.

Next I needed to get it square, so I used the same method as was done on the wing. I ran a string from the centerline of the tip of the nose all the way back to a common point on each of the two stab halves. Marking the measurement of one stab with some tape on the string, I would swing the string over to the other stab and adjust until each tip gave me the same measurement. To double-check, I also laid a triangle on each stab half and checked it for 90 degree position against the centerline of the fuse.

With this all done, I marked the top side of the stab with a pen, drawing a line right up against the fuselage on each side. This will give me a quick reference line to follow when I glue the stab in later, and also help me to keep an eye on it as I fine tune.

With the plane set perfectly level, I then put the laser incidence meter across the span of the stab to check it for level, while verifying it visually as well. Looking from the rear, each stab tip should line up to each wing in the background exactly the same.

The last step is to use the incidence meter to check for zero degrees incidence to the wing. All the above measurements were off just slightly, so I use small scraps of balsa and aircraft ply as shims to adjust until each measurement was right on with a snug fit. With the stab removed, the shims were permanently glued in place... then the stab was remounted with 45 minute epoxy and allowed to cure.

Mounting the vertical fin

Moving on to the vertical fin was much simpler. Mount the fin with the rudder post flush against the back end of the tail and check the fit of the bottom of the fin to the top of the fuse. Sand the fin and/or fuse as needed for a flush fit.

Using the "string method" again, I measured from the tip of the fin down to each stab tip to once again check for square. While doing this, be sure to also check the alignment of the fin to the fuse by using a level against each side as well as up against the back of the rudder post.

Once you are satisfied with the fit and alignment of the fin, you can go ahead and epoxy it in place. Keep an eye on it while it cures as it could slide/lean off level while setting. This should give you a good square tail, but naturally you always want to stop and "eyeball it" from the front and rear of the plane every so often to give it a final check before any glue cures, and "while" it's curing up.

In the picture at right, you can see how mine ended up perfectly square. Actually the use of this photoraph and Photoshop allowed me to easily verify this. With the plane in the photo perfectly level in Photoshop, I use the software to draw a perfect rectangle. Lining the rectangle up with the fin and stab in the photo verified that the tail contained a perfect right angle.

Blending and fillets

OK, now it's time to try to blend all these new structures into the fuse. Before hitting the stab and fin, let's wrap up that rudder post. If you remember, it extends a little below the fuse at the bottom. Well, mount the rudder in place and mark the bottom of it on the rudder post. Now cut the excess off and round it to shape. Then, just add a little balsa filler block to allow you to blend the post into the fuselage right up to the tail gear cut-out hole.

Now for the stab and fin. I could just use epoxy and microballoons or some putty to do simple fillets, but I wanted a more accurate method. The FW190 vertical fin does not really "stand separate" on top of the fuselage... rather, it is fully blended with the fuse cross-section as though it were just an extension of the fuse.

To start this task, I cut a balsa block into a "shoe plate" of sorts that would slide onto the top of the fuse, wrapping down the sides of the vert fin a few inches. This begins the curved shape where the LE of the fin sweeps down into the fuse. Next, I masked off an area to add some filler to the seams where the fin meets the fuse. This was done using epoxy & microballoons. Once that dried, I added more balsa filler blocks as needed to sand and shape the sweeping moments as close to scale as I could get them.

Now the real blending begins. I use some thin 1/32" balsa sheeting to cut a "blending sheet" for each side of the fin. The shape is such that it follows the contour of the fin, and extends about one inch past the areas to be blended. I used medium and slow CA to glue these in place, then cut and sanded away the excess.

Once it was dry, I sanded the balsa sheeting as needed to blend the edges down into the fin and fuse as best I could. I also added a little thin CA to some of the higher stress areas of the blending sheet to add strength and resist cracking. All that's left to do now is some initial putty work and sanding.