Dec 4th & 5th, 2001,  4 hours

After finishing up the rudder on the 3rd, I seemed to wander around aimlessly the last couple of nights.  I did manage to get the E603 & 604 for both elevators drilled. 

I also drilled and prepared  both spars for assembly, attaching the reinforcing plates (E610 & 611) and drilling the 603 rib to the right elevator spar.   I was trying to take both of the elevators as far as I could before starting to prime.  It's a loosing battle.  I reach a point where I really need to assemble some of the pieces together and that means priming.  I spent the remainder of the night in the deburr, break edges & polish with the Scotch Brite wheel in anticipation of priming everything tomorrow night. 

Dec 6, 2001 3 hours

I decided to prime everything in sight that wasn't nailed down or made of fiberglass.  I'll go this route and touch up if I need to.  Here is all the elevator parts ready to be etched and primed.   And finally the results of tonight's labors.    My process for priming is something like this;  after deburring/polishing I spray an etching solution on the part.  With the etching solution still on the part, I lightly sand with a Scotch Brite pad then rinse with water.  Before actually priming, I use blown air to make sure all the water is off.  Then finally the priming.  First with a light fog coat and then a finish coat.  Yea, I know this is all over kill.  I think that's why my least favorite thing to do is prime.  Why prime perfectly good & treated aluminum?  BECAUSE EVERYONE ELSE DOES!  (hope my kids don't read the why :)

Dec 7, 2001  4 hours

Goal for the night was to rivet the stiffeners to both elevators and hopefully rivet the right spar together.  All holes drilled, dimpled and all parts primed.  Should be an easy night of mainly back riveting.  By the way, I don't like the special back riveting tools that you can buy.  I prefer just a simple flat head.  I seem to be able to see, control and hold the stiffeners down with my hands.  Again, to each his own.  

Here's the right elevator stiffeners started.    Notice anything strange in this photo, and yes all these stiffeners are riveted in place.  Some really stupid individual riveted the wrong stiffener to the skin.  I am certain that I will make some mistakes in the future but I sure hope that this is the most stupid and obvious mistake that I make (if I make another one this stupid, I don't know if you'll see it or not ( :  ).  How can you not notice this one before riveting.  After stomping around mad for a few minutes, this 2 minute mistake turned into an hour of slowly and carefully drilling out the rivets.  I managed to not screw up the skin or the stiffener and the remainder of the night went much more according to plan.

I completed the right elevator and then the left.    Here's some extra work that I did that was not necessary.  I trimmed the short stiffeners on the left elevator similar to the other stiffeners.  This was totally unnecessary.  I did call Van's and make sure that I hadn't weakened the stiffeners by trimming.  The strength is in the rib so all is okay.

Dec. 9, 2001  1.5 hours

I managed to take some time away from the RV to participate with the family in some Christmas activities this weekend.  I still had to get my "RV Fix" so I slipped away Sunday night and did some riveting.  I riveted the skeleton of the right elevator together, assembling the reinforcing plates and the end ribs to the spar.

 I aligned the horn to the spar and drilled it in place.  I then added the skin to the skeleton and drilled all the holes.  

Dec 15, 2001  5 hours

Today is just a blur.  I don't remember what it was that I actually did today.  Here's what I think happened today (:.    The day started out well.  I began by countersinking the back spar (where the hinge for the trim tab attaches.  I did this on the drill press.  It seems to keep the clattering down.   

Then it was assembling the skin to the skeleton.  This was straight forward.  I squeezed all the rivets that could be squeezed and drove the remainder.  Actually, it was the other way around, I drove and bucked the majority of the rivets.  No pictures, things were going well and I just kept driving rivets.

I then started the trim tab.  I started by back riveting the spar to the trim tab.  I should have bent the tabs before riveting the trim tab skin to the spar.  It would have been much easier to have bent the tabs first.  I managed to get the tabs bent and they turned out ok, it just took more work to do it after riveting the spar. 

The day went downhill at this point.  Such a simple thing as attaching the piano hinge keeps one humble.  I aligned the hinge to both the HS & elevator before taking the hinge apart.  I had absolutely no way to rivet the hinge.  Squeezer wouldn't work ( without buying a $120 yoke) and my old standby, "buck anything that you can't squeeze" let me down as well.  No bucking bar that would fit in and around the hinge.  I had to either find something that I could use or make a bucking bar.  My scavenger hunt didn't turn up anything useful so I started grinding out a bar.  I had picked up a couple pieces of scrap steel on my last trip home to Alabama.  (That's the great thing about a farm, scavenger hunts there are much more productive than sub-division hunts)  I sure wish that I had the cutting torch.  This would have been a breeze.  Instead, I ground this thing down with a pneumatic cut off wheel.  Here's my new bucking bar (patent pending (:  )    Not the best picture but I ground a channel to fit around the hinge.  Hinge being attached to the spar.    Trim tab attached to elevator.    All major assembly on the empennage done.  I need to finish up this elevator by forming the leading edge and fitting it to the HS.

I have one problem.  Where the servo rod attaches to the trim tab, the horn brackets don't align with each other.  I hope that I've got one electric trim horn and one manual.  I'll call Van's Monday to find out.  (I added black tape to the face of the taller one so you could see the difference in the two.)   

I'm out of hardware.  No more pieces of aluminum that isn't attached to something.  I need a couple more sessions to finish up the loose ends of the elevators and then  ??????   Wings not shipping until 3rd week of January.  Maybe I'll do the fiberglass in early January.

Dec 17-20, 2001  4.5 hours

I moved into the "piddling" mode after completing the major portions of the empennage kit.  I called Van's about the trim tab horns and they said to just fabricate another bracket.  I'm sure they would have shipped one if I'd asked.  Monday night I spent a little time and made another bracket to match the correct one.  I also riveted the ends of the trim tab flaps and the elevator ends down. 

On Tuesday, I rolled the edge of the last elevator and pop-riveted it together.  This time I used a smaller pipe and did it one section at a time.  There are advantages to both the large and small pipe (1" dia. vs 1/2" dia pipe)  To get the best of both worlds, I would suggest rolling the edge a little with the 1/2" pipe and then finishing the roll with the larger pipe.  I didn't do this and just used the 1/2" pipe but was careful not to roll the edge too tight. 

I brought the HS out and started to align the elevators to the HS.  I notched the spar of the HS so the elevator horns could pivot down.  The plans call for 13/16" from center of the rod end bearing to the spar.  This was too close in my case.  There has been some discussion on the RV7 forum and someone quoted Van's as stating this was just a starting point.  The issue is with the elevator horns.  If you install the elevator to close to the spar, the bolt through the center bearing will not fit.  The nut and the bolt head will hit the tube and/or the horn.  It looks like I'm going to set this to between 15/16ths and 1" to provide adequate clearance for the center bearing attachment.  I used a plastic anchor through the bearing while drilling the pilot hole in the horns to keep from scarring up the center bearing.  

On Wednesday, I set in the Lazyboy and dreamed about avionics, instruments, autopilots, lighting and how to equip the plane in general.  Once I start on the wings, it'd be nice to make a couple of these decisions.  If you'd just send money, I could equip my plane very well :-).

Thursday night I had to put it all together to see what it would look like.  I also adjusted the rudder to the VS.  Here are a couple of shots of the empennage sitting on the workmate           and a pool table that doesn't see much action these days :-) 

I'll take it back apart in a few days and install the weights in the elevator and rudder.  Might work on the fiberglass tips.

This will be the last update for a few days.  We're traveling to Alabama to spend a few days with the family during Christmas.  Please allow me to wish you a very Merry Christmas season.  I hope that you take the opportunity to spend some time with your family.  I also pray that those who may stumble upon this site have Christ as their co-pilot.  During this Christmas season, let's remember that we are celebrating the birth of the risen Savior.

John 3:16-17  "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.  For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world but to save the world through him".   May God bless your home, especially during this season of celebration.