Trim Tab Advice Request

[steve lenne]

I suggest you make a sample trim from light card. When you get a good one use that as a template to mark the real trim tab .

[KatieB]

Does Van's sell .016 blanks anymore? They might all be .020. I'd suggest if you screw up the original, just buy some .016 2024 stock at your nearest aircraft metal supply. Especially if you're outside the U.S. I still have some left over from my scratch-made rudder skin (backrivet blunder) and realistically expecting to use more of it on RV-3B trim tab(s) when I finish up the tail this winter. I know the card-stock trick will help reduce the number of tries, though!

[pekuba1610]

Thanks again for the advices. I'll try it with the card- stock trick, hoping the piece of the .016 sheet from the elevator will be enough. Cutting normally works fine. I'm using an oscillating saw with a very fine blade.
Nevertheless having read about Katie's backrivet-plate accident, it nearly happened once to me, also with the rudder skin. Since that I always use a magnet to check the position of the backrivet plate through the skin. Maybe, riveting takes a little bit longer but you can always be sure the plate is underneath. Simply fixed a small magnet to a 3" wooden stick, when it stands upright, the plate is underneath, if not, the stick falls.