I am building a Lockheed Lodestar. The same question might apply to the Hudson and the Super Electra, since these planes share a pretty much common design in terms of airframe.
I noticed there are no cutouts in either the elevator or the rudders. I found that the elevators are split and end before they get to the twin rudders. So that explains why no cutouts in the elevator.
The rudders are something else, though. The horizontal stabilizer extends back all the way to the rear surface- and inboard of the rudder. The rudder appears to be hinged both above and below the stabilizer and appears to be one piece on each side. Pictures show a possible cutout in the rudder about the shape of the airfoil of the stabilizer. Since the tips are rounded, I could see that such a cutout would allow the rudders to turn outboard. But this cutout, if it exists at all, is very close and would not allow the rudder to turn inboard. I cannot believe they made the linkages such that each rudder only turns to the outside! How do the rudders work?
There is enough clearance in the cut out in the rudders to turn inboard. Another bit of a give away is that the outboard ends of the elevators are cut at an angle that’d correspond to where the inside face of the rudder would be at maximum inward deflection.
I’d like to know why at least one picture I’ve seen shows one elevator up and one down, while on the ground.
Don, this new format will not let me post images until they change some of the programming, but I have drawings and photos that show the rudders moving in and out. Unlike the Ercoupe in which they do only move outward.
Yeah, I came across that picture too, and also assumed that the linkage was broken. Someone else sent me a picture (of a regular Electra, but it seems to use the same tail design). It was an excellent picture- close up- showing that the slot in the rudder is actually several inches wider than the chord of the horizontal stab, so it does allow rudder to move inboard.
Someone else mentioned to me that Lockheed got complaints about the complexity of the tail empenage and its complexity. Made for higher initial cost and was a maintenance problem.
If you want complexity and maintenance problems you need to look at the flap system of the LoadToad (and it’s close relatives the PBO, the PV1 and the PV2. It’s a mish-mash of pulleys, bell cranks, hydraulic cylinders, tracks and seemingly miles and miles of cable running fore and aft and side to side in the wings. It’s enough to make a mechanic and/or a crew chief pull their hair out !(Hmm … maybe that’s why I’m bald today)
