I rechecked the fit of the skin to the elevator and before beginning to rivet I had a couple items to complete. First, I had to bend the elevator tabs where the trim tab goes. I still had my hardwood that I used to make the bending forms so that saved a lot of time. I remember at one point thinking I would never use the forms again I almost cut them for something else.....glad I didn't do that!!
Anyway, getting the forms in place and where they need to be is the biggest part of the process....the bending takes but a couple moments. So I got it set up and finally bent the lower skin first then reset it and bent the upper skin. All in all it took a while but came out well after massaging it to get it just right.
Secondly, I had to put the RTV at the end of the stiffeners to keep vibrations from causing cracking of the elevator. The RTV at the end of the stiffeners where the training edge is folded acts as a vibration dampner. I had an old tube that I fussed with because the RTV was still plyable and usable although a little stiff. Sometimes it's just easier to take the couple dollars loss and open a new tube. It was tough to squeeze out the RTV and I finally threw it away and opened up the new tube which flowed beautifully and was done in no time....penny wise and pound foolish applied well here.
Finally with everything clecoed together, I checked the straightness of the elevators and they appeared excellent so all was good to go and I started the riveting process. This will take a little while....I think I have enough AN426-3-3.5 rivets to finish....hopefully!
