Spread over two days, I was feeling pretty confident with my tab bending skills after completing the trim tab bends the days before. Figured bending the tabs at the end of the cutout on the elevator would go about the same. Set up the same way with a metal bar clamped to the workbench. Line drawn as per Vans instructions and used a block of 2x4 to bend the tab over. Looked great at first until I realized the bend line was not perpendicular with the trailing edge of the trim tab cutout. Test fitting the trim tab in place, the gap that was going to exist as a result of this slightly misaligned bend line was going to drive me and my OCD nuts for the rest of eternity if I didn't fix it.

So what to do? I could flatten the bend back out again using some bending pressure and the rivet gun to smash it back flat. But the more I thought about it I said screw it, TIME FOR PLAN B!

Riblet here we come. I had seen other builders use little ribs that they had created from spare pieces or made from scrap. The more I thought about it, it just makes more sense to use a small rib here to provide structural strength and to make life a lot easier. Bending those two final tabs over and trying to rivet them in place just doesn't make a lot of sense. Van's probably would do it this way if they went back and redesigned their earlier kits. For all the headache of trying to get those two little tabs bent just right, making a rib for that space instead just seems like a better way to go about it. One nice thing about using a rib is that I can fiberglass in that little area and build it up so that the gap between the elevator trim tab and the elevator is minimal and clean looking.

So a rib it is! Now where to find one that I could use. I have a lot of scrapped parts (like most of us) that I have sitting on a shelf. From this I found a couple potential candidates that were already drilled, dimpled and primed. Problem was going to be the hole placement and how to match drill holes to a rib that already has holes drilled.

So I messed around with the premade rib a bit only to decide to make my own after not like the hole spacing. Figured if I made my own I could control the location of the holes and make things easier in the end. So off I went to find some flat scrap to make a blank rib. The first one probably took me an hour to make. The small size made the bends a bit harder to manage but after a while and a lot of work, I had a rib that I could use. So I installed it in the gap, clamped it in place, marked a centerline for the holes and marked off three hole locations on each side of the skin to match drill. Everything was going great until the very last hole when I let the drill bit get just a little too deep and contact the rib on the opposite side, nearly drilling a hole through that side. This wouldn't have been a big deal except that my ooops hole was right next to the already drilled hole on that side. Airplanes being airplanes, things will vibrate all the time and that almost oops hole would probably cause the other hole to crack at some point. So crap, wasted about an hour and a half of work getting to that point only to dork it up doing something as simple as match drilling. No worries, it was late and was time to call it a night.

Got back to it this afternoon to make another rib from scratch. This one only took about 20 minutes to cut on the band saw, debur, sand, debur some more and shape. I was really happy with this one as it was actually fun to make. I test fit it into the gap only to realize that it wasn't nearly wide enough! Doh! In my enthusiasm for making the part, I had undersized the web of the rib just a little bit and it wasn't going to work. So back to the scrap to make riblet number 3! Only about 15 minutes to make this one and it was acceptable, still not completely symmetrical but good enough. The skin holes had already been drilled last night so it was easy enough to match drill this little rib in place.

With that done it was back to the plans to see where we were at. Time to start riveting the interior parts together. I recall this from building the right side elevator. Nothing too challenging, just a lot of universal head -4 rivets to set with the gun. First up was the two outer counterbalance ribs, made quick work of those. Then I made sure to study the plans for rivet direction since the next task was to rivet the doubler plates and platenut to the spar. 24 good rivets, or so I thought at first. When I flipped the part over, I saw that I creased on of the rivets going into an ear on a platenut. Dang it! Thought I had gotten them all without dorking one up. Oh well out it came, although it put up a good fight even after the head popped off. Happy that I managed not to enlarge the hole and quickly set a replacement rivet of the same size. Set the four rivets that join 705 to 702, then riveted the control horn on with the squeezer. Final part today was to set the four rivets that join the spar to the outer ribs that hold the counterweight. These four are a bit tricky due to their location and two of them require an offset rivet set which I recall using from the other elevator. I picked up a tip since I last used the offset set, use Gorilla tape or similar to tape the offset shaft in place to the gun so that it will not rotate while you are using it. This allowed me to set the rivet set exactly the way I wanted it to set these two tough to reach rivets without worrying about the set twisting or turning while hammering away. I also turned down the air pressure a little bit for better control.

One thing I tried today was to adjust the pressure regulator at the gun as opposed to the one on the compressor. I have never done this, I've always adjusted it at the compressor. The little regulator at the base of the gun seems to make a big difference in how hard the gun hits. As I've gotten more comfortable setting rivets, I'm more comfortable turning up the hitting power to set the rivets quicker. Seems to help keep them from tipping over. YMMV.

Got a lot of work done the last few days so it was a good place to stop and enjoy some family time. Will continue with the assembly of the interior parts and building the trim tab itself in the next few sessions.

NOTE TO SELF: DON'T FORGET TO ADD THE RTV TO THE TRAILING EDGE THIS TIME BEFORE YOU START TO RIVET THE SKIN ON!!!!!