All prepping and priming is now complete and it is time to start some satisfying construction. The first task is to rivet the counterbalance ribs back to back and attach to the forward spars. All pretty straight forward using the squeezer and a longeron yoke although it easier with the adjustable set to wind open the gap and then adjust the gap once the yoke is around the flanges as you have double the normal depth to overcome. Access can be gained at the corners where the flanges have a gap otherwise the yoke and set won’t reach over the two flanges.
The counterbalance skins go on next. Easy to do with the squeezer.
Trim tab next. This was my first go with Proseal although I did a test piece a couple of weeks ago. There are stories all over the internet with regards to this stuff and I can see why. It has the ability to go anywhere and everywhere apart from where yo want it! A thin layer is required for the foam ribs and I found that Amazon packages provide the right thickness of cardboard to use as an applicator. I mixed up too much.
Once the ribs are in, the top skin goes on and the trailing edge is cleco’d using the 3M double side tape. The whole thing is waited down and left for a couple of days.
Two days later…trim tab has set and trailing edge can be riveted. This is done using double flush rivets as per the rudder trailing edge. I purchased the the special chamfered set from Cleaveland Tools which worked really nicely and save a lot of messing about. The pin keeps the sets aligned with the correct chamfer.
Trim tab finished using blind rivets on the close out tabs.
I was paranoid about distorting the hinge but it looked fine.
To be sure I popped it in the elevator and inserted the hinge wire. Perfect, no binding and it looked really nice. It’s great when you get bits that look like bits of a real aircraft!
Some other shots of the nutplates, control horns etc. Riveting fairly straight forward using a combination of the 3″ and longeron yoke.
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