Brief Description: Elev: Inspection and Trim Tab Rivetting
The inspection of the elevators happened last night and went off without a hitch. My AP seems very happy with the work I'm doing which is a great confidence boost on my part. With all the relevant stamps in all the right places, I can now close up and ultimatelty finish off the elevators.
I descended on the workshop this evening with the full intention of closing up both elevators and the trim tab. I removed the blue plastic off the right elevator along the relevant rivet lines and cleco'ed the structure together - then it hit me... I need to place sealant (pro seal) on the inside of the trailing edge at each of the stiffeners and I don't have any! *sob*
Whilst not mentioned specifically in Van's instructions, there is one reference to it when describing the trailing edge bend and I would assume it would be the sme procedure as per the Rudder construction. Blammo go all my plans for the evening.
The only thing I could really carry on with then was to complete the Trim Tab rivetting which I then duly did. I cleco'ed it all together again anfd then rivetted the top of the skin to the spar end E-721 hinge, ensuring that the tab remained twist free. I then drilled out the three holes on the inoard fold to accept the CS4-4 blind rivets as per the plans. After putting n the first rivet, I was not happy with the result as the rivet stands very proud as the skin is not dimpled. I drilled the rivet out and relooked everything. Unable to dimple anything at this stage, I settled for a very mild countersink on the outer skin. Whilst marginally better, it's still not what I would like (visually) but the holes are already drilled to #30 to accept the CS4-4 rivets. I would personally not have put a flush rivet in for this application and don't understand why the plans call for it?!?!
Right elevator ready to close up but alas, no Pro Seal to be found!
Rivetting the top of the trim tab to the spar and the E-721 hinge
Trim tab complete, including the three rivets on the inboardfold
