Wooden trim tab???

[3Dreaming]

Re: Wooden trim tab???

hmmmm... thanks everybody for responding and sorry: i was out of town for the weekend on a banner tow job (not flying the t-craft of course)...

flyguy and clipwingT- thank you for the concern and do not worry: the taylorcraft is on the ground and will be until i've gotten to the very bottom of this.

cvavon- this is interesting you're the first person to tell me that yours has rivets which leads me to my next question for you guys:

i've ordered a replacement trim tab from wagaero that is uncovered wood and includes the proper holes... now my mechanic is trying to find attachment procedures once it is covered... can anybody send me in the right direction?

It installs with a long pin made from wire. It slides in from the root end. The "L" shaped end is secured to the end of the tab with safety wire.

[Szpmichael]

Re: Wooden trim tab???

oh and also to rob-

are you telling me you've seen a solid wood trim tab on a t-cart before? I only ordered the new one because it was inexpensive and it seems like you and everybody on here is using the covered wood ones...

best,
Michael

[Szpmichael]

Re: Wooden trim tab???

hmmmm... thanks everybody for responding and sorry: i was out of town for the weekend on a banner tow job (not flying the t-craft of course)...

flyguy and clipwingT- thank you for the concern and do not worry: the taylorcraft is on the ground and will be until i've gotten to the very bottom of this.

cvavon- this is interesting you're the first person to tell me that yours has rivets which leads me to my next question for you guys:

i've ordered a replacement trim tab from wagaero that is uncovered wood and includes the proper holes... now my mechanic is trying to find attachment procedures once it is covered... can anybody send me in the right direction?

[cvavon]

Re: Wooden trim tab???

Took a good look at my tab and found out that it is hollow in side, and covered with fabric and it has solid rivets holding the hinges on to the tab.

[ClipWing_T]

Re: Wooden trim tab???

DO NOT FLY THE PLANE WITH THAT SOLID TRIM TAB on it.

Someone had put one on the first piece-of-junk deathtrap BC12 that I bought. Flying in formation with a old time pilot friend he yelled to me quite loudly. "Get that thing on the ground, the tail is fluttering!!"

I had completely forgotten about that incident and have to add it back to my memory list of deadly things that were wrong with that airplane.

This is some sound advice those 'pop rivets' are not original at all and listen to the people here not your mechanic in this case.

t-Jets 100 mph on 65 horse

[3Dreaming]

Re: Wooden trim tab???

If his is covered it needs to be recoverd because he has exposed wood at the trailing and leading edge near the tip.

[Robert Lees]

Re: Wooden trim tab???

I wish that Szpmichael would make a reappearance here.

Perhaps Hank and I could persuade his Mechanic/AI that all is well with the trim tab.

There must be a case, surely, where the absence of detailed approved design data does not mean that the tab is wrong...it just means that the data was not recorded, back in those heady days of the '30s and '40s.

[Hank Jarrett]

Re: Wooden trim tab???

Rob, yours looks a lot like mine except my metal bands are shorter on the bottom and are recessed into the wood. My fabric covers the straps instead of the straps being on the outside and there are rivets instead of machine screws and nuts. To my thinking the machine screws and nuts would make no difference at all instead of rivets and would actually be easier to maintain like yours are.
Hank

[Robert Lees]

Re: Wooden trim tab???

I've taken some photos of the wood trim tab on our 3-hinge elevator.

This particular aircraft was made in 1941, but Pearl Harbor delayed its introduction to the civilian fleet 'til 1945, so it is legally a 1945 BC12D. (it has 3-hinge elevator and rudder and 15 b/u wing ribs for those interested).

Anyway, spzmichael, the pics look an awful lot like yours. But the trim tab is not solid. There are gaps in the structure (lightening holes) that you can feel, but that don't show on these photos through the fabric.

I think and expect that your trim tab is original, legal and safe. You can see that mine is nut-and-bolted (whereas yours appears to be riveted). Perhaps the factory used both methods. Your mechanic/IA is quite right to question these things. I do not believe that your aircraft has a flight safety issue.

Underside view:




Topside view:



Hinge detail:



As an aside, we are all friends here so we often use first names.

All the best,
Rob

[Robert Lees]

Re: Wooden trim tab???

Hi all

I've got a '46 bc-12d at Santa Paula airport in Southern California. While my mechanic and I were troubleshooting a stuck trim tab he took a closer look at it and became skeptical of its origins. It is a solid piece of wood with hinges attached by pop rivets. Before sending me back into the air he wants to know if this was a factory part or something that someone just made for it so I'm wondering if anybody has this same setup on their t-carts or knows anything about it. Ill try to attach a photo

Thanks!

It is possible that it's not solid. The wood design of trim tab I have seen has large lightening holes in the tab. Of course it's covered with fabric so difficult to see (but easy to feel).

What look like pop rivets I would consider suspect, but it's difficult to comment without seeing it first hand. Is it possible that they have been used in place of original bolts/nuts? Perhaps the drawings will clarify.

Is your elevator two-hinge or three-hinge?

Welcome to the forum! Santa Paula is a lovely field! I flew once from there back in the 90's, and was made to feel very welcome.

[3Dreaming]

Re: Wooden trim tab???

Hank, the notched trim tab was only used for the B*12-65 airplanes like your 41 deluxe. That was the first trim tab they put in the elevator, and it didn't have quite enough authority. I think most post war airplanes had the long trim tab, and most were metal after about the first 5 months of production.

[cvavon]

Re: Wooden trim tab???

FIRST to fix your trim take a wrench and open the inspection plate on the right side of the elevator and turn the nut on the trim jack screw to center the trim tab then NEVER MOVE THE TRIM WHEN THE ELEVATOR IS NOT AT LEVEL FLIGHT OR THE CABLE WILL SLIP AND IT WILL LOCK UP.the photo is a wood trim tab.

[flyguy]

Re: Wooden trim tab???

DO NOT FLY THE PLANE WITH THAT SOLID TRIM TAB on it.

Someone had put one on the first piece-of-junk deathtrap BC12 that I bought. Flying in formation with a old time pilot friend he yelled to me quite loudly. "Get that thing on the ground, the tail is fluttering!!"

I had completely forgotten about that incident and have to add it back to my memory list of deadly things that were wrong with that airplane.

[Hank Jarrett]

Re: Wooden trim tab???

There are at least three types of metal ones. The first (and doesn't matter for this discussion) is the flipper on the pre war planes. It doesn't even attach to the elevator. The second is a metal one shaped like the wood ones. The third, and I am guessing most common, is a rectangular one that fits into a cut out in the port (left to you lubbers) elevator.
I have seen pictures of the second type and never knew if they were original or someone made one to replace a wood one. On the wood tabs the hinge line is centered on the false spar that supports the tab. On the metal rectangular tab the hinge is on top of the false spar. IF the hinge is centered (up and down) it was a wood tab.
Hank

[Ryan]

Re: Wooden trim tab???

Well no pic, but no mine is not solid. Looks exactly like the one on wag aeros site, a frame, and is assembled as Hank describes...mine had to be covered with fabric and no pop rivets. I believe the metal ones are interchangeable to if you find one, no need to cover there