0.7 Hours -
With the right elevator skeleton and skin ready to be assembled, they were just calling my name from the garage! Unfortunately, I didn’t have a whole lot of free time today, but I did manage to get a little RV work in.
To assemble the elevator, I first had to attach the counterbalance skin to the main skin with two rivets on each side. If you forget to put these rivets in now, access to the rivet will be blocked by skeleton. However, the plans do allow for blind rivets to be used if this happens.
The counterweight skin is attached to the main skin with two rivets on each side before the skeleton is put in place. If you forget, you have to use blind rivets here.
Next, I was ready to slide the skeleton in place. Before doing this, I put a small glob (technical term) of blue RTV silicone at the aft end of the stiffener. The RTV will keep the stiffeners from rubbing against each other and, hopefully, prevent any cracking from occurring on the trailing edge of the elevator over time.
A dab of blue RTV is placed in the bend at each stiffener to, hopefully, prevent future cracking.
As soon as the RTV was in, I placed the counterweight into position followed by the skeleton itself. After the skeleton was clecoed in place, I started to rivet the skin. After riveting one side, it was time to quit. The rest will have to wait until tomorrow.
The right elevator is ready for final assembly.
