[msturgis]

Tonight I finshed closing up my Left Elevator minus the trim tab. I happend to look down the trailing edge and noticed a slight bow. The right side didn't turn out this way, and I know the left was straight when I bent it.

First how would I go about measuring the amount of bend?

How might this affect the flying qualities?

I know its tough to see in the photo.

 

[Veetail88]

Matt,

My airplane is not flying yet, but that doesn't seem too horrible to me.

The angle you are looking at it from will certainly point out ANY imperfection of the trailing edge.

While I'm working on my first airplane and am definetly not an expert, I have build MANY models, some of which had flying and control surfaces much less true than your photo, and they all flew fine. It's amazing how much a little trim can clean up!

If it were me, I'd move on. There may be better, more informed opinions on this, and if I'm way off base, please chime in guys! If my builder thought process is way out of whack, I need to know!

At the end of the day though, it's your airplane. If it bugs you, redo it.

 

[Shockwave]

Mine has the same bow in it. I brought it up to my EAA tech counselor and he didn't think it'd be a problem.