Having spent a significant amount of time from the previous work night studying the plans for this part of the horizontal stabilizer I set out to mock up a few of the parts and start match drilling. Like most things it's a bit more involved that it first appears.

My tail kit was manufactured in 2011. The service bulletin came out in the start of 2014. My original plans are from the original kit in 2011. The most up to date RV-8 plans are from 2016. So..... somehow I had to figure out how to combine parts and plans from three different time periods to get everything together the way it is supposed to fit together. This was a bit more difficult than I had anticipated and involved a lot of studying of plans and the instructions from the service bulletin before proceeding to drill any holes.

The good news is that the most current build plans combine the SB parts and instructions into them so you really just need to follow those plans as your primary source with a few references to the SB kit.

After a couple of hours of scratching my head, moving stuff around and double and triple checking I match drilled everything and mocked them up with clecos.

The final goal for the night was to get the two spar stiffeners (HS 810 and HS 814) trimmed down to their plans described size. I would share a picture but I'm too embarrassed at how badly I managed to mangle each one in an attempt to trim them on the band saw (BIG mistake!!!).

So time for new parts from Van's dang it..... Lesson learned, the amount of metal that needs to be removed is so little that trying to do this with a band saw is a bit tricky unless you are really proficient with one.

So ended the night ordering a new HS 810 and HS 814. No worries, it would take a few days to get the new parts and would allow for a break in the build.