Tag: Elevators

Finally I finished the trim tabs and they were true and straight this time. I Installed them and I also got the static ports installed too. Over all a good night and glad this is done now!

I got the static ports drilled but the back side was way too deep for me to get the nut on the back so I’ll screw those in tomorrow. I did all of the priming and assembly of the trim tabs today. I stead of putting them in the wood forms I decided to do a weighed down approach this time to try to keep the twisting from happening. The picture shows my almost final setup. I went back a little bit later and put two by four blocks on each of the foam ribs and put the weights on them. That should compress everything as well as keep them straight.

Super hot today so didn’t work as much as I wanted. Supposed to be 90 tomorrow so we’ll see. It is prepped for priming and assembly at least.

The trim tabs arrived later than expected. They didn’t come until Thursday which I had other stuff that ended up happening that night. So I finally got a chance to work on it all today. I got the skins bent to their proper angle and then I got the ends bent as well. They still are further in than they are supposed to be. I finally got the first tab to bend properly on the second end of the first trim tab that I worked on but the second tab that folded over it for some reason still ended up further in than it should be. That is a very frustrating step. I kept eyeing over the block and it was not slipping on me, but I also couldn’t get the block as far forward as I wanted with the first tab bent up. I almost feel like you need to bend the first tab a little further out and then the second tab will fall into place. I don’t know. Either way that is all done. I went to final drill the holes but it appears that these new parts are final sized already so that work was for not. I still went through all of the holes just to check but they were all final sized. I then finalized it by bending the forward edge of the trim tab. I’ll work on priming it tomorrow and then hopefully getting to assemble it. I have a car wash fundraiser that I need to go to tomorrow morning with my boy but I have the afternoon and evening to finish those tabs. Fingers crossed they stay true. I used a flat edge and weights on the trim tabs while I was drilling the ends so that it would stay straight. So far they are still straight as can be so so far so good.

On a final note I did finally finish organizing all of the parts from the wing kit and I mounted the drawers to the wall so I had more table space.

Got my first hour of rework done on the trim tabs. I needed to recover some of the parts that I could salvage which was the hinge and the clevis horn components. I hit Vans up for a PDF of the foam rib templates so hopefully they answer tomorrow so I can cut those foam ribs again.

I finally finished the elevators! I will have to come back and redo the trim tabs. It appears when I drilled the end rivet holes I got them off. There is a pretty bad twist in BOTH of the trim tabs. Not a big deal, I’ll just order new parts and rebuild them down the road. It is nice to have these elevators done!

I spent some time on Saturday and Sunday getting the trim tabs sealed up and I at least drilled the holes for the elevator side of the trim tab hinge. I’m going to have to wait until Thursday to do the rest of the hinge drilling on the trim tabs since I have church visits on Tuesday night and then Mutual on Wednesday. I just got it sealed up last night and I want to let it sit for a couple of days like the instructions say so that it cures properly on those foam ribs and tank sealant. But I’m almost done though with the elevators and then I can get on to the tailcone. I want to get as far along on that as possible since the wings should be shipping any day now.