Today I riveted the elevator side hinge of the trim tab. Fortunately or unfortunately, when I bent the elevator side tabs I really tried to bend them at a 90 degree angle to the trim tab side as noted in the plans. However, when I pounded the first bend in the elevator side, either I lined it up slightly off of the 90 degrees or the wood blocks moved during the pounding…but the result was that I ended up with the same angle that the left elevator had before – so my previous trim tab fit just right. I really intended to have the trim tab and elevator bend be 90 perpendicular to the elevator line. But instead they both came out about 92 degrees. So there.
Anyways, I went back to my own web build log when it came time to drill the trim tab hinge because I remember it working really good. So I used the same measurement, drew my line, and put it in place for a trial look….hmmm, that’s looks bad? After scratching my head and re-measuring all the specs, I pulled out the old hinge side and I’ll be… the hinge that Van’s sent me as a replacement is wider than the one I received with the empennage kit originally. Hmm? Ok then – so I adjusted my measurements and used the new sizes and
I also torqued the counter weight bolt on the Left elevator and applied the torque paint.
