How bad is this ding

[Update I've gone ahead and ordered a new elevator. Too ugly for me to love with. Thanks for the input]

As usual, I have managed to make a mistake on a friday evening, and hate waiting all weekend to hear from Van's. My new riveting partner made his first mistake today when the gun slipped on the elevator skin, leaving the ding shown below. I also know from searches that advice will vary from bondo it and move on, to replace the skin because I will never be happy otherwise. I have absolutely no problem doing either, but as I am still in the learning phase, I am trying to get an idea of what is minor and what is more serious; I have no illusions of a perfect airplane, but I do want a safe one. Would appreciate any input,

Chris

Probably no big deal structurally, but where is it? Inboard near the fuselage, or further out near the tip? Best bet is to take a pic with a wider angle look & send it to Van's.

I had a much bigger ding on the leading edge of a wing just inboard of the landing light (about like a medium size bird strike). It actually bent the nose of one rib slightly & popped a rivet. When they saw the pics they said to just have a body man bump it out & don't worry about it.

FWIW,

Charlie

Smooth dents are generally acceptable, dents with sharp creases are not. The second picture looks like it has some sharp creases.

It's at the very tip, next to the tip rib. I am thinking of calling it a practice elevator and asking vans to throw a new one in the wing kit.

Chris

YellowJacket RV9 said:

My new riveting partner made his first mistake today when the gun slipped on the elevator skin, leaving the ding shown below.

Click to expand...

That looks very ugly to me. I'm not sure if you need a new elevator but you sure need a new riveting partner.

Yep

YellowJacket RV9 said:

It's at the very tip, next to the tip rib. I am thinking of calling it a practice elevator and asking vans to throw a new one in the wing kit.

Chris

Click to expand...

X 2 Chris...they're cheap.

Best,

Not sure I understand what I'm looking at. Where is the rivet that was being driven?

Why did you have a riveting partner on the elevs. (or any of the emp. for that matter)? You should easily be able to do all that riveting by yourself. I don't see any reason to get two more inexperienced hands on my expensive airplane parts you're just doubling the chances for screw-ups.

Plus when you have someone else hanging around, who most likely just wants to get s*** done in a hurry and get back to their own life, you can multiply the screw-up factor infinitely. Not saying that's your case, just saying. JMTC

My advice is don't do anything with it right now and don't worry about it. Put it aside and keep building. I have found sometimes the best way to handle these is to let some time pass. The solution will make itself known as you complete some more assemblies.