Well heck. I bent the elevator trim tab ears & all is well, but when I went to do the same on the elevator, my backer block slipped and I got the trailing edge bent a little too far outboard. What this means is that the gap between the elevator and the trim tab is bigger at the trailing edge than fwd. It's perfectly airworthy this way, but just looks sloppy, and I'm not in the business of putting my name on sloppy work. I know that others have cut those ears off and built ribs to go in there, but in this case, that would lead to a pretty big gap between the tab & the elevator, and I'm shooting for tight lines.

Simply put, I've ordered another elevator skin to do this again. I'm redoing the right side as well, since some of the stiffeners are mirrored and I'm paying for shipping anyway. 2 new skins & stiffeners are about $150, but it's money well spent know that I'll have pristine flight controls.

If bending the ears doesn't work on round 2, I'll accept defeat and build end ribs like so many other people have.