Feature | Building a Wot
pilotweb.aero | Pilot June 2018 | 67the lower horn or an upside-down
‘T’ for the upper one. The upper
and lower horns are clamped to
each other by four bolts running
through the elevator. I drilled
those four bolt holes in each
horn and also the single hole at
its tip, where a shackle pin will
one day−many years from now−
link it to a control cable. I then
tightened B&Q nuts and bolts (to
be discarded later) through all
the holes, thus securely clamping
everything together, ready to be
welded. The last stage is to tidy
up all the edges with the bench
grinder. All the welder has to
do is run a seam along all the
edges, joining both sides. A clean
up, etch primer and some black
paint to finish and then the big
question: did I order bolts to the
right length, and will they go
through all the holes, including
the ones I made in the tailplane
leading edge? (This time, ‘yes’.)
So now the tailplane and
elevators are a single unit
complete with control horns and
they hang on the workshop wall
exactly like a piece of sculpture.
The Japanese would appreciate
all the small imperfections, I feel
sure; they would see it as ‘art’,
much like the cups in their tea
ceremony. The tailplane has been
up there for so many months
now though that I have ceased to
CLOCKWISE FROM RIGHT: Nick band-saws
bargain-price offcuts from another
aircraft project and planes them down
to size; and one of the perfectionist
finishing touches – saving a bit of
weight and the prospect of unsightly
rust stains by removing the staples