Finally getting caught up with some video! This is the final bits for Section 9.
Once again I was jumping around a little bit and decided to assemble and drill the hinge for one of the trim tabs. This was more to keep me motivated than anything else as seeing the parts put together just makes me happy.
After I take a moment to enjoy my progress, I move on to riveting the trailing edge of the Elevators. I decided not to alternate my rivets like I did on the rudder, and things went together quite nicely. Below are a few pictures of the bucking bar I used to get the rivets near the trailing edge.
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Next I begin rolling the leading edge of the elevators. I quickly remember a post on VAF about using a socket inside JB Welded in the ends of a PVC pipe to assist with rolling the edge. A quick trip to the Home Depot aviation department and I tried it out. My first JB weld attempt failed on both sockets (you can see me re-do my work in the videos) however once I sanded the sockets and PVC pipe, the JB weld did a great job. It really did make life a LOT easier rolling the edge by myself.
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On to attaching the counterbalance weights and cleaning up a few missed rivets / making sure I didn’t miss anything else. When I did get to the part where I needed to rivet the hinge onto the elevator and trim tab my squeezer and yokes were just not working. I didn’t have enough clearance between the yoke and the eyelets of the hinge to squeeze the rivets without crushing / moving the eyelets. Did some searches that were not really helpful, and decided I needed to modify my yoke slightly. After some consideration, I decided to cut a small piece off my flat iron stock and JB weld it to the tip of my 4″ no hole squeezer. Based on my recent experience with the sockets, compressing the JB weld would be fine, but a shearing force would allow me to remove the piece. This worked perfectly and allowed me to quickly set these rivets. (I saved the piece in case I need to repeat this again in the future.)
Once completed, I couldn’t help myself and showed off to the wife and kids how the parts go together. 🙂
Finished up the other Elevator and trim tab and stowed everything on my shelves so I can start working on the tailcone. At this point my budget won’t allow me to order the wings until closer to November but now that the temp is getting reasonable (and the dehumidifier seems to really be helping make life comfortable in the garage), I have a feeling I’m going to be ramping up my time in the garage. I’m sure I’ll be done with the tail well before the wings arrive. The only question becomes where will I be storing all the stuff while I continue to build. Already looking at where I can store parts (especially the horizontal stabilizer) while I work. I have a feeling I’m going to have to do some massive cleanup / organization in my garage to make room for all my completed parts.