After an unforeseen break I started building again. Past few weeks I cut the ribs for the underside of the stabilizer en glued them in place. A lot of sanding, cutting and trial fitting as all of the wood apart from the ply core is hand cut and scratch built. Very happy with the result though:

Next step is cutting the inserts that go in-between the ribs. An easy but time-consuming job, as we need 28 pieces of spar, and 52 slanted blocks that go in the direction of the ribs. I like to build as straight as possible without using too much glue, so I’ll take my time for this step in the build:

The leading edge of the control surfaces will be sanded round later on, and the Robart hinges will sink into them so the hinge point lies between the two leading edges of the elevator.

By the way, I discovered a small error in the drawings, as the front part of the outer rib on the elevators shouldn’t be in line with the aft part of the rib. That way, the ribs of the stabilizer and elevator do not align. So I need to cut away some pieces of the elevators and glue in new ribs offset to the outside of the elevator. No big deal and certainly part of building a prototype. I plan to finish up all the work on the tail feathers before going back to the fuselage again (rounding all of the edges, preparing for the control horns and hinges etc.).