Matt’s RV7 Build Log

After reflecting over christmas I decided to go the way of many who have gone before me and order another trim tab skin. The deciding factor was a lack of clearance between the elevator and trim tab where they meet on the trailing edge. I didn’t mark my line for the outboard tab bend using the square so after the bends were made the edge clearance goes to nil as it goes aft.

On the bright side I decided to do this now to save from drilling rivets or ordering all the other trim trim tab parts. Once the skin arrived on Thursday I made quick work out of redoing the bendsm matchdrilling, and dimpling all the parts.

Tasks Completed:

• Ordered and prepped new trim tab skin
• Deburred and dimpled all trim tab parts
• Countersank E607 trim tab spar
• Finished installing screws for E714 

Okay–so after reading about putting this part together and an aborted attempt last night, I finally got around to bending the trim tab tabs for real.

First, I made another oak break with the interlocking notch at the top. I highly recommend oak or another hard wood because you are going put a lot of pressure on this break and you’ll want to minimize the flex.

The bends on each side worked very well this time. My only complaint is that I ended up with kinks on each trailing edge. This was caused by the trailing edge of the positive break was a tad thinner than the radius of the trim tab. So when all that pressure was applied the edge of the wood break put a kink in the trailing edge of the trim tab.

Tasks Completed:

• Bent inboard and outboard tabs of the trimtab
• Pop riveted elevator skin tabs
• Finished riveting left elevator skin to skeleton 

A lot got done today on the left elevator. I went over to a friends shop to get a good cut on the oak I planned to use on the sking tabs and trim tabs. I marched through the riveting of the skeleton and even the tab bending went quicker than I tought it might. Even with the doublestick tape I had trouble keeping the very end of the wood inplace for the bend. Overall I am pleased with the results. I hope to improve my tab bending art when doing the trim tabs.

When riveting the skeleton I waited to rivet E713 and 714 together. Instead, I first riveted the inboard rib to the spar and then riveted the outboard rib to both of these. Getting to the rivets that mount the ribs to the spar is WAY easier with this method. I also replaced the original counterweight with a new one because I had cut the original down. Getting the holes to line up with the counterbalance skin holes and the ribs holes was a pain. I highly recommend not screwing this part up in the first place. With a little body english, I finally got the bolts to fit.

Tasks Completed:    

• Made new counterweight
• Dimpled left elevator skin
• Bent elevator skin tab
• Riveted left elevator skeleton

Tonight I snuck down to the basement for a couple of hours. I started bending the leading edge of the right elevator. I was much more efficient with effort and the amount of duct tape compared with the rudder. I did notice the thinker skin on the elevator takes a bit more force to bend. I left the workshop with the edges clecoed together, but it needs more work before I can drill and rivet.

Tasks Completed:    

• Started bending leading edge

Today I was going to prime the left side parts but decided to go ahead and complete the riveting on the right elevator. Everything worked out well. When I do the left side I will be waiting to rivet 704 and 703 together until I get the short rib to the spar thereby avoiding the squeezer gymnastics needed to get all the rivets squeezed in that joint.

There’s two items I need to investigate further. First, Van’s came out with the soft rivet bulletin this weekend. Although I am not affected by their apparent mishap, it got me thinking that I had bought some rivets locally early on before knowing the difference between soft and hard rivets. And, just tonight, it felt like a few of the rivets were VERY easy to squeeze. The other thing I need to check on is the quality of my trailing edge bend. It seems like it needs a little more massaging in the middle sections to reduce some bowing I see. Work is going to kill me over the next couple of weeks so I might not get a lot more done on the elevators in November.

Tasks Completed:    

• Finished riveting the right elevator skeleton
• Riveted 701 skin to right elevator skeleton

Tasks Completed:

• Primed left and right stiffeners
• Back-riveted right elevator skin
• Bent right elevator skin
• Clecoed right elevator skin