Put together the trim tab servo cover and brackets.
It is still very tight between the servo and the rear most shop heads. I even used -3 rivets in those two holes. I might squeeze them just a bit more, as it seems like the cover is bowing out when I mount the servo.
Overall it looks much better than my original attempt.
Smoothed edges, dimpled, prepped and primed the replacement trim tab servo cover and brackets. Since the cover is .032, I countersunk the rivets for the bracket instead of dimpling. That should give me more clearance beween the shop head and the servo.
I finally got to do a little bit of work tonight. I ran out of work on the empennage, and am still waiting for the wing kit.
I received the replacement trim tab cover from Van’s, so I started drilling and deburring that. I made sure this time that the trim servo arm is in the middle of the cutout.
I also put the few remaining blind rivets in the VS and left elevator.
Riveted the trailing edge of the rudder. It’s time consuming to keep checking the straightness of the trailing edge, but it’s better to do it right than to redo the whole thing. It’s not perfect, but looks pretty darn good. It’s well within Van’s recommendation of 0.1″. I’d say the trailing edge doesn’t vary more than 0.05″. This picture is kind of fuzzy, but shows what the shop heads look like after being driven into the dimple.
Here are a couple of glory shots with the rudder temporarily pinned to the vertical stabilizer. It swings nice and smooth.
Trimmed (including deburring and radiusing the corners) the ends of the horizontal stabilizer so that the elevator would swing clear. I bent some 10d nails at a right angle to use as temporary pins for the elevator hinges.
Bent the leading edge of the left elevator and closed it up with blind rivets. (It’s just sitting temporarily on the HS.)
I made a tool out of PVC to tighten the rod end bearings to the dimensions shown on the plans. I think this tool was first documented on Sam Buchanan’s RV-6 web site.
I then trial fit the elevators to the horizonal stabilizer to figure out where I need to trim.
Alright, might as well prop up the vertical stabilizer to see what it looks like. Cool. This might someday be a plane!! Big progress over the past few months.
Bonded the trailing edge of the rudder together with fuel sealant. I used a cartridge with the Semco sealant gun, which worked great. This stuff isn’t that bad. Personally, I think epoxy is much worse to work with. I put the sealant on both sides of the wedge and then clecoed the whole thing to a straight piece of aluminum angle. After it set for a couple of hours. I removed the clecos and cleaned off the excess sealant from both sides and then clecoed it back together again to set overnight. Looks mighty straight.
Finally ready to seal up the trailing edge of the rudder. I was waiting for a part that was missing from the Semco sealant gun I bought on Ebay last week.
I used lacquer thinner on the wedge and a small strip of the inside of the skins to remove the primer. Need a good surface for the sealant to grip. I also carefully drilled the trailing edge to a piece of aluminum angle that I picked up at Home Depot. That should keep it straight while the sealant sets up. Not enough time tonight to get into the sealant. I’ll do that tomorrow.
Finished riveting the trim tab hinge to the elevator. Looks good. Just waiting on some blind rivets to finish it off. And I have to roll the leading edge.
I also ordered some new parts for the trim tab cover. The electric trim servo is just not sitting right on the cover. I followed the drawing exactly (Steve verified that), but I should have been paying attention to the alignment with the cutout. It’s not centered.
Also, the aft-most rivets under the servo seem to be preventing it from sitting all the way down like it should. I don’t think I located those holes, but maybe there was something I could have done to prevent that. Maybe countersink instead of dimple??
Anyway, I’m ordering a new trim tab cover and the brackets for the servo. A grand total of $9.
Riveted the left elevator closed (except for the trim tab hinge) and clamped the trim tab in position. Drilled the hinge to the elevator. Riveted the trim tab closed, including drilling and blind riveting the ends.
