Working Rudder for 3dlab P47, also cleats etc.

thingiverse

I suddenly realized that the P47 didn't have a steerable rudder. So, I modified the .stl part using IdeaMaker's "cut plane" feature to put a 30-degree V front on the rudder section, which allows it to move when hinged. I used CA hinge sheet and burned slots in the tail and rudder with a hot knife blade before gluing them in. The photo shows the model with supports still on, so check out the .stl file to see the V. I modified the tail by removing the locating lugs using IdeaMaker, then printed both the tail and rudder with a bottom thickness of 1.2mm to give something to put a slot in. The other small parts are cleats. I saw someone do this and use 1mm copper wire as a pivot, but they bent the wire around. In these cleats, there's a 2mm hole for the control rod (glue it in place) and a 1mm hole for the pivot to attach to the rudder or ailerons, etc. I just glued the 1mm hole in place with a dab of hot glue on both ends. Any problems can be easily re-printed and done again. The long thin cleat is meant to have open sides to the hole so that it can be hot-glued into place. All holes will probably need drilling out as they are small, but there's a guide where to drill, print solid so no problem with that. The control horn mimics the 3D Lab aileron ones by being angled forward, which allows for a short slot length in the cleats when pushing away the rudder. When it gets close to locking up, it will be at 60 degrees or more. Just burn a hole in one side of the rudder, trim the tongue part to just touch the other side and glue it in place - the small lip will cover the hole edges. With the cleats, if you want adjustable control rod lengths, try this: glue cleats to the end of a rod about 6cm too long, cut it and clamp the two rods using the copper cable clip part of a ChocoBlock cable connector. It's easy to adjust without needing to rotate the rod. Now I have full control over my P47 model. Just figured out how to edit but had posted a comment about the last part already. This is a filler for the tail section, which is a slice of it (1.2mm) reduced to 95% in size. It should hopefully be able to be glued into the end to allow hinges to be fitted. If it's a bad fit, just sand it - I haven't tried it myself.