After finishing the majority of the prep work on the rudder (cutting and deburring the stiffeners, match drilling the skin to the skeleton, and dimpling and priming the skin), I started working on the right elevator. The skins on the rudder are only .016" think, so I wanted to back rivet the stiffeners on the elevators before attempting the same on the rudder skins. This is probably an unnecessary step, but I thought the extra practice on the slightly thicker elevator skins would be useful.
Similar to the rudder, I started the right elevator by cutting and deburring all of the stiffeners for the top and bottom of the skin. The notches Van's makes in the stiffener aluminum makes this a straightforward, albeit time consuming, process. I also deburred the counterbalance skin and ribs, as well as the elevator spar. After that, the stiffeners are match drilled to the top and bottom of the skin, the ribs are fluted, and everything is assembled and match drilled.
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| Stiffeners cut for top and bottom of skin |
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| Assembling skeleton |
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| Skin attached to skeleton and match drilled |
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| Priming stiffeners |
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| Stiffeners back riveted in place |
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| Blue vinyl removed - I love how this looks! |
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| Ready to bend trailing edge with bending brake |
