May 5, 2020
If you recall, a few days ago we primed all the trim tab parts and then promptly dimpled the trim tab spar where it was supposed to be countersunk. The replacement trim tab spar finally arrived so taking extra precautions this time to not screw it up again, we attempted to finish up the left elevator and trim tab.
The holes were match drilled again and we used self-etching primer on the trim tab spar. The bottom of the spar gets riveted to the elevator first, so that you can align the trim tab hinge with the elevator skin and top of the trim tab spar.
It took a lot of finagling to get the trim tab the right offset from the elevator and then clamped firmly in place so that we could match drill the holes into the elevator side of the trim tab hinge. Finally it was all together and drilled, but when we took it apart there was near zero edge distance on the final out board hinge mount hole.
Turns out, when we drilled the trim tab side of the hinge a month or so ago, we screwed the placement. Until it was mounted on the elevator we couldn’t have known and it’s weird that the plans call out drilling one side of the hinge so far ahead of being able to line up the other side. We were DOA on the trim tab again.
While it was all cleco’d together, we took the opportunity to check trailing edge straightness and alignment with the elevators. Everything looked good there but now there’s more waiting for a replacement hinge to arrive.
Cheers,
-Kacy
(Total Build Time: 163.0 hrs)