Elevator Assembly George Barrett

George Barrett sent along some notes and sketches on how he jigged the elevator. Instead of looping the trailing edge alignment string over the ribs as suggested in the manual, he clamped a vertical board at each end of the elevator spar. These boards were clamped into an exactly vertical position, which he established with a carpenters level and plumb line. The vertical boards were made as part of what George calls an "L" piece-sort of a large, wooden shelf bracket-which is clamped to the table top.

The front face of these vertical boards is used to establish the centerline of the elevator, and George used two lines, crossing each other at the center of the airplane. At the center, the two lines should just contact each other and this indicates that the two sides of the elevator are in the same plane. With this arrangement, the ribs may all be installed in one session. This is just a variation on the method shown in the construction manual, and you should use whichever method suits your fancy.