Fixture to paint control surfaces.

[cajunwings]

Surely someone has gone down this road before. No luck with various forum searches. Need ideas on building a simple rotating fixture to hold the rudder and elevators so they can be painted horizontally. I have some thoughts, but overkill could be my middle name.

Saw this rig holding a hood on one of the high end auto paint shop sites.
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[PhatRV]

I did something more simple by laying the control surfaces flat on the table and support it with some small boxes to raise it off the table surface and spray. After the paint had dried, I flip it over and spray the other side. Not fast, but they came out OK

 

[toolmanmike]

This is just for the control surfaces, but I put some tent peg pins (thick wire) through the hinge points and mounted to some saw horses. This allowed me to rotate the pieces and spray both sides at 1 time.
I sprayed the vertical surfaces standing vertical.

 

[Stoo]

This is just for the control surfaces, but I put some tent peg pins (thick wire) through the hinge points and mounted to some saw horses. This allowed me to rotate the pieces and spray both sides at 1 time.
I sprayed the vertical surfaces standing vertical.

 

[Stoo]

Here's the jig I used for the elevators. The horn tube was loosely clamped to a wood support and the outboard hinge point was hung from a wire. The elevator horn rested against a wood strip to hold the elevator horizontal. A second wood strip supported the horn when the elevator was flipped over. The two strips stick up like a 'V' in the picture. It was easy to pull the elevator to disengage the horn, turn it over and push it back to rest the horn on the other strip. You can also see how the stab could be rotated, it was just held to the wood sawhorse at the center hinge point.
Stewart Willoughby, 6

 

[DanH]

 

[bonefishdave]

 

[scottmillhouse]

What I did for the recent 12 Painting. On wing stand just added a top bar and hung stabilizer and flaperons from it.

 

[Bandera]

View attachment 59893

That’s basically how I paint control surfaces.