Finally Building
55 Hours Total Hours 118
After inspecting the parts of the tail (empennage) that had been built by Dakota guy, I began building what was left, the left elevator and trim tab. I had built Vans little toolbox and had played around with my new tools so I had a little practice but I was still nervous. The left elevator went together easy.
After everything was assembled with clecos, I disassembled it all and primed everything then riveted it all together.
I then rolled the edges and riveted them.
Then came my first challenge, the trim tab.
I wound up redoing the hinge several times to get it right. Good thing I had extra hinges.
I had read so much about the trouble other builders had with bending the trim tabs, I decided to build the riblet like so many others had. This introduced me to fabricating parts. First I cut several pieces of partical board and finally got the right shape.
Drilling off the lower wing skins gave me plenty of sheet aluminum to practice building the ribs.
After forming about 10 ribs I finally got the two I needed.
I will say that I worked on this trim tab about 4 days trying to get it perfect.I came close to just starting completely over. I decided to live with what I have for now.
Installed the Ray Allen electric trim.
This all went together easy compared to the trim tab.
Installed the rod end bearings and torqued them up as per the instructions.
Mounted the elevators to the horizontal stabilizers then drilled the control horns.
Moved on to the tail wheel assembly. I received my tail wheel
weldment from Vans along with the bulkhead I was replacing. I drilled the tailspring, the weldment, and the fork. I had the
weldment powder coated.
I match drilled and dimpled the bulkheads.
Cut out bottom slot and mounted weldment.
Bulkheads fitted.
Everything's looking good.
Pulled a pink line on the centerline of the fuse. Tail wheel lined up good so it should track straight.
I riveted it all together. This was easier said than done. I got my first taste of using everything I could dig up for bucking hard to get to rivets! Drilled the final three holes and bolted the weldment to the bulkheads.
