Ivan's RV-7

Fitting the bottom rudder fairingTimer icon1.5h

September 16, 2023

A little bit of fitting of the bottom rudder fairing.

First, I trimmed the fairing to fit the rudder. I used a Dremel with a cutoff disc drum to do that. I started by following the lines on the fairing, then filed and sanded it more to make it fit.

However, after installing it I found that it will interfere with the tailwheel spring. Seems like there are two popular solutions: one is to trim the fairing more so it sits higher and another one is to reshape the aft of the fairing.

I decided to go with the latter. First, I cut off the bottom part.

The bottom aft part is trimmed away.

Then I laid two layers of fiberglass cloth on the outside and one from the inside, then left it to cure.

Added a new shape with the fiberglass cloth.

The result (before sanding and final shaping).

The end result.