Continuing on the elevator, the stiffeners and attach bracket were attached to the skin
For the right elevator, it is ready to have the trailing edge attached. For the left elevator, the trim tab spar was riveted to the elevator. Then the trailing edge on the left side was ready to be riveted. This would mark the end of the elevators (minus the trim tab).
So now that all the parts are match drilled, we can begin riveting the parts together. I started with the counterbalance arms. Both left and right were fairly easy.
Next, I added the attach doublers to the elevator spar. This time, I was super extra careful to make sure that the plates were on the correct side of the spar. I also attached the elevator control arm and the end rib.
After the skeleton was riveted together, the spar was riveted to the skin. This was difficult and required two people. I opened the skin up and set it on it’s side.
Now that the elevator structure has been match drilled, everything was disassembled, deburred, and dimpled where necessary. All of the rudder skeleton and elevator parts were then scuffed and cleaned, and primed. Now that the parts are primed, we can start to assemble the rudder and elevators.
So far, the left and right elevators have been very similar. But now, there are some differences. This is because the trim tab is on the left elevator. The trim tab helps to relieve pressure on the control stick. This trim tab means some extra structure to support a hinge so that tab can move. So, instead of a continuous trailing edge, the left elevator has a small trailing edge, and then a channel where the hinge attaches the elevator to the trim tab. So like all other structure, the channel is clecoed and match drilled to the skin.
Now that the skins have their stiffeners, it is time to build up the skeleton for the elevators. The first step is to cleco and match drill the reinforcement plates to the spar. These reinforcement plates are where hardware will be bolted to connect the elevators to the horizontal stabilizer. Next, the end rib is clecoed and match drilled to the spar. this intersection is where the elevator horn is riveted to the elevator. This horn will control the movement of the elevator.
Once the skeleton is together, the skin can be clecoed and match drilled to the spar. Then the counterbalance arms are clecoed together, and those are added to the structure and match drilled.
Time to begin work on the elevators. The first step is to make the stiffeners out of the provided materials. There are instructions and diagrams on how to cut, and how many stiffeners to cut. These are used to stiffen the sheet of aluminum that is the skin of the elevators. These stiffeners are then match drilled to the left or right elevator skins.
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