This is pretty much the last step on the empennage kit! It’s time to double check all the measurements and alignments and drill the last holes on the tail….the elevator horns. I have read horror stories of people not getting this done correctly, and having to have the horns welded … Continue reading
The empennage kit is wrapping up, and almost complete at this point. All the major assembly is done, and now its just fitting the parts together and lining up the hinges to drill the elevator horns. The first thing to do is make sure the eye bolts on the elevators … Continue reading
With the right elevator all closed up, one of the last remaining steps is to bend the leading edge. This is a bit tricky to do, and I am using the tried and true method of using a wood dowel rod and some strong Gorilla Tape to get the bend … Continue reading
Tonight I was able to close up and rivet both the left and the right elevators. They had been setting and letting the proseal cure, and now it was time to close them up for good. I started out with the easiest one first, the right elevator. This one is … Continue reading
Today was actually a pretty fun day. I decided to wait on prosealing the rudder and elevators until I could do it all at once, and save on the cost of mixing up two different tubes for two different sessions. I also took advantage of having some helpful friends to … Continue reading
Its time to rivet up a control surface! The right elevator is ready to be closed up and riveted. I have decided that I am going to rivet the bottom side of the skins, and leave the top side clecod down for now. This way, I can hold off on … Continue reading
After taking short break from the priming session, I dug back into riveting together the right elevator skeleton. This will give the primer on those doublers some time to dry. AKZO dries super quick, so by the time I get ready for them they should be ready for me 🙂 … Continue reading
I started off tonight by priming a few little odds and ends for the right elevator. I had missed the little doublers in my first round somehow, and I needed to prime the replacement counter balance skin too. I decided to mix up a very small amount of AKZO and … Continue reading
Its almost time to rivet the left elevator together, but first I have to take care of a few last tid bits. I disassembled the right elevator and deburred all of the parts, including the skin. The next step was to dimple the skin using the DRDT-2 and then dimple … Continue reading
I spent about 20 minutes bending the left elevator trailing edge in the bending brake tonight. I figured since I already had my bending brake setup on my bench, I might as well go ahead and bend the left elevator as well. Since this elevator doesn’t have as much trailing … Continue reading