Brief Description: Rolled leading edges of both elevators and riveted
Today I rolled the leading edge skins of the elevators and riveted them. I used a black, 1/2" pipe and found that if I only did one section at a time between the bearing openings It worked much better and was easier to handle by myself. Trying to do the entire length of the elevator at once was too awkward to do well alone. I should have learned this lesson from the rudder, same situation.
The elevator tapers and gets thicker towards the center of the airplane and the 1/2" pipe didn't have a big enough diameter to give the proper radius. A 3/4" or even a 1" pipe would work best for that. It worked out OK though as I just opened the radius up by hand to get it correct.
The skins are under a little tension and getting the holes to line up was a bit of a struggle, but some duct tape was used to act as an extra set of hands and I got the clecoes in. I have been having trouble with my two pop rivet tools and Cleaveland Tools is sending me a replacement for the one I bought from them. My model was discontinued do to the manufacturer having too many issues with it. Go figure.
