456 hours - pulled down the lonely HS - Prep for fitting the elevators

Managed to get the HS down off the wall all by myself. No new dings as far as I am aware. I forgot just how large 8.5 feet is. Lots of dust to clear off, and everything needs a good cleaning. As soon as I started looking it over, I started having flashbacks to all the "moments" during the HS build where things did not go exactly according to plan. Of course there is the major ding on the top skin, the major forward spar repair, the hard-to-set forward rivets on the tips, Several smilied rivets, and many scratches, dings, and just plain not very good workmanship IMHO. I did not even ground down my soldering iron well enought to remove the vinyl coating around the rivet lines, so I also have several small scratches in the skins as a result of that. Then there is all the divets and scratches from bad flush riveting where the mushroom rivet set in the gun has either dented the skin around the rivet hole or severaly scratched the alclad surounding the rivet. Not very impressed with the exterior of the HS to say the least.  Oh well, I will let the tech counselor rip to shreds when he comes to visit, and go from there.

A reminder to other builders - make sure you disregard Vans build sequence they have laid out in the plans, and START WITH THE VS FIRST INSTEAD OF THE HS! The HS is NOT the best thing to start with, as there are many complex steps involved in this part of the build, the parts are smaller, and you have to build two sections. The VS is a much better build for learning how to handle all the new tools, clamping procedures, and riveting/bucking techniques. Also start off right and grind down the edges of your yokes and any other tools that do not have correct clearance. In the world of flight instruction, we have a saying:

Do not let the airplane fly you - YOU fly the airplane.

This addage can also be applied very easily to building this kit:

Do NOT let the kit determine the quality of the build, YOU determine the quality by using the right tool for the right job, taking your time, and seeking assistance from other builders/chapter members when needed.

I may very well drill out the rivets and remove both HS skins and order some new ones, unless the tech counselor can convince me that this is not necessary. It would be a lot of work to do this, but I think the skins would turn out so much better now that I am a bit more seasoned as a builder

Here are the elevator leading edges sitting next to each other. I wanted to compare the contour of the rolls on each one to see how symetrical they are.

Next is the HS turned upside down, and the left elevator roughly placed into position so I can check some measurements and initial fit of certain areas.

Next is a pic of the center section where the elevator control horns sit next to the center hinge bearing, It also shows some lines I drew with a sharpee to mark the area of the bottom flange of the rear spar on the HS that must be trimmed away to allow for proper range of motion of the elevators when they are moved in the down direction. I set the length to 1 inch from the edge of the center bearing on both sides (26/32" is the minimum necessary to clear the flanges of the control horns on both sides, but I figured that rounding it to an even inch was acceptable. The depth measurement is 3/8". I have it on good authority from several other builders that this is more than adequate to allow for proper range of motion of the elevators. I will radius the hole 1/8 of an inch, which means a center punch 1/8 of an inch out from the inside corners to allow for a 1/4 inch drill bit which will create the 1/8 inch radius that I need. No such trimming is needed on the top flange of the HS rear spar, since the elevator control horns do not interfere with anything on that side.

You can also see the gap between the control horn and the center bearing. This is normal and will be closed up by adding as many washers as are necessary on the bolt between the control horn and the bearing on both sides.

And finally is a pic of the tip section. There is more trimming of the HS skin required in this area in order to clear the tip of the counterbalance arm. I will use the same process as I did for trimming the bottom flange of the rear spar of the HS. Only question is how much clearance to leave between the counter balance arm and the HS skin. I see absolutely no mention of this in the plans at all. It may be as much as 1/4 inch or as little as 3/32 inches. I'll have to inquire about that. Tomorrow I give the HS a bath and trim the flanges on the rear spar. I also need to go get a #13 drill bit which I will use to pre-drill the hinge holes on the HS, and will follow that up with a #12 reamer. Once the hinge holes are properly reamed to size, I can use the temporary hinge pins to trial fit the elevators and check for range of motion in both directions and binding.

You can see the slight overlap of the HS skin on the right side of the pic. This overlap will be much greater when the rod ends are inserted all the way into the hinges.