[N44VY]

Vet: I like the idea of supporting the bronze bushing insert. I'm thinking this: Build up the center of the stab spar as in the Schultz plans with blocking and thin plywood gussets as shown. Then, drill thru the gussets and spar for the bushing insert. Then, using a properly sized large Forstner Bit, drill the gussets, top and bottom, just enough to flush fit and epoxy the fender washers. Make the inner ID of the fender washer match the OD of the bushing and make the bushing long enough to fit flush with the gusset surfaces. That should capture the fender washers firmly in the gusset and also provide additional support to the top and bottom edges of the bushing.

I'll try this on a mock-up - if it looks good - OK. Otherwise, I will look at the thin steel plate idea of yours. I just think I can get a thicker bushing support surface with the fender washers while saving some weight over the steel plate caps. Good idea or not?

Which brings up something else I have encountered. In the Ely-Curtiss configuration used to fly onto the USS Pennsylvania, the forward elevator was reconfigured from the Schultz example. The Ely bird used a single bamboo brace running via a wheel fork from the nosewheel to a hinge located at the bottom center of the elevator spar. The outer elevator hinge points were attached to the outriggers, as normally done, and wire cable ran down from the outer hinge points to the nosewheel axle via metal tabs at each end. These cables replaced the two bamboo struts on earlier Pushers without the center bamboo strut. Long winded description just to get to my point: The photos of this single strut configuration show the outer hinge points at the tips of the elevator, at the outrigger junction, as in the Schultz drawings. The photos also show, in my view, that the central hinge is below the spar. That means there is about a 1" difference in the hinge alignment axis from the end pivot points to the center point. The result would be that the spar would have to flex as the elevator was moved up and down. Am I interpreting the photos correctly, or do you have a different slant?

Having said all of the above on the hinge pivot points, I went ahead and modified the two at the ends of the spars by adding tabs of sufficient length to drop the hinge axis down and in line with the center hinge. Not by the photos, but it does line everything up. None of this is irreversible. If someone out there has a definitive, authentic or more elegant solution, please scan your cranial data banks and old Pusher pics to see if you get the intuitive flash which solves all. Thanks to all! Bob C.