Brief Description: Close elevator at trim tab cutout
Attempted to bend tabs per directions in manual. Bottom tab bent ok, but top one folded over on itself leaving a crease protruding approx 1/8" above the elevator skin. I did forget to remove the vinyl from the skins before bending which may have been the source of the flaw. To correct, I cut away damaged skin on top and evened cut with bottom. Radiused and edge prepped new edges. Decided to make a mini-rib to fill replace the bend tabs. Started by making a wooden form and then fabricated a rib from 0.025" flat stock. Match drilled to elevator using two holes top and bottom. Made one mistake by aligning opposing trailing edge holes which didn't have enough clearance to even blind rivet. Therefore, I had to make a second rib and off-set drill the opposing trailing edge holes (leaving an empty hole in the bottom of the elevator skin that will have to be filled later). Overall, this was a great learning experience and I really gained confidence in fabricating small parts from plain stock.
