My Doug Bell tailwheel fork arrived today – I got the black painted version from FlyboyAccessories. I wanted to link it all up to see how everything fit. I then set it aside. The tailwheel is all but install – only a few bolts to torque and attach the rudder cables and she’ll be good to go.

Next, I gave the empennage fairing a little love. I checked fit versus the aluminum fairing that is installed underneath the horizontal empennage. And then I cleaned it up and gave it another good spray of filler primer.

While that was drying up I worked on the lower aluminum fairing and rear cover plate. Van’s instructions call for tapping the longerons to accept screws and then machine countersinking the skins. I’ve read that some people just rivet this part on, as there’s never really any reason for it to come off. I have to say, I’m not highly impressed with this part or Van’s method for attaching it, but I don’t see any reason to rivet it either. When in doubt, I’ll stick with the Van’s method.

First step was to match drill the fairing, and then debur and dimple. Next step was to drill everything to a #36 – then machine countersink the skins and longerons.

I’m pretty happy with the results.