After my short pause, I am back at it. The left elevator and trim tab are right where I left them. :) I've explained the trim tab flange bending process in previous posts, here are some pics to illustrate what I was talking about....
I cut bending blocks to help with the process. I used double stick tape to keep the blocks from moving...or at least I tried, they still had a tendency to move around which was kind of a pain. My bends werent the best, but they were certainly not too bad. I think if you did this a couple of times you could get better at this skill.
Here is a pic of the flanges on the trim tab after they were bent. I started the bend with a soft mallet and a block of wood. Once I got the bend started, I switched to using my rivet gun on a low setting and flush rivet set. That worked pretty slick.
Here is the other side of the trim tab after doing the same process. You can see the pre-punched holes on this side. These will be used to match drill the other flange before using blind rivets to close it up.
This is the same process on the left elevator. So, there are three total places you have to do this.
And here you can see how it fits within the elevator assembly. The trim tab will attach with a piano (continuous) hinge, which is not shown.
This is the important part, in my opinion...how does the gap look? Not horrible...but not great either. You can see that the bend lines are not crisp and a little inconsistent. I think 7 out of 10 builders would be fine with this and just move on. It is just cosmetic after all. I have been thinking about redoing the trim tab...stay tuned on what I decided.
Here is another view illustrating the inconsistency in the two parts.
Unrelated to the left elevator...I am getting close to attaching control surfaces. So, here is a shot of my vertical stabilizer with the rudder attached. Looking like an airplane!! Is that a beer in the shot?? How did that get there?!! hmm...
I cut bending blocks to help with the process. I used double stick tape to keep the blocks from moving...or at least I tried, they still had a tendency to move around which was kind of a pain. My bends werent the best, but they were certainly not too bad. I think if you did this a couple of times you could get better at this skill.
Here is a pic of the flanges on the trim tab after they were bent. I started the bend with a soft mallet and a block of wood. Once I got the bend started, I switched to using my rivet gun on a low setting and flush rivet set. That worked pretty slick.
Here is the other side of the trim tab after doing the same process. You can see the pre-punched holes on this side. These will be used to match drill the other flange before using blind rivets to close it up.
This is the same process on the left elevator. So, there are three total places you have to do this.
And here you can see how it fits within the elevator assembly. The trim tab will attach with a piano (continuous) hinge, which is not shown.
This is the important part, in my opinion...how does the gap look? Not horrible...but not great either. You can see that the bend lines are not crisp and a little inconsistent. I think 7 out of 10 builders would be fine with this and just move on. It is just cosmetic after all. I have been thinking about redoing the trim tab...stay tuned on what I decided.
Here is another view illustrating the inconsistency in the two parts. 
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