What next!
The left elevator that came with my kit was pre-made by Vans but had so much twist in it, it was unusable. The counterweight hung more than halfway below the stab and you could see the bow in the trailing edge. I tried rebuilding it but the skeleton even had the twist.
The new elevator I built, I thought turned out perfect but after almost all the rivets were in, there is a noticeable oil canning back and forth between a set of stiffeners on the top. See "X"s on the picture
http://pages.suddenlink.net/tismuoi9/Lelevator.jpg
You have to look close to see any distortion but the two areas obviously "pop" back and forth.
What do I do now?
1) Build and fly the plane as is and replace the elevator when the fatigue cracks occur(as they will probably sooner than later).
2) Do it over for a third time
3) Reskin both elevators with .020
4) Find some way to stabilize the skin
5) Sell the kit and take up stamp-collecting
Dave A.
RV-6A QB
The left elevator that came with my kit was pre-made by Vans but had so much twist in it, it was unusable. The counterweight hung more than halfway below the stab and you could see the bow in the trailing edge. I tried rebuilding it but the skeleton even had the twist.
The new elevator I built, I thought turned out perfect but after almost all the rivets were in, there is a noticeable oil canning back and forth between a set of stiffeners on the top. See "X"s on the picture
http://pages.suddenlink.net/tismuoi9/Lelevator.jpg
You have to look close to see any distortion but the two areas obviously "pop" back and forth.
What do I do now?
1) Build and fly the plane as is and replace the elevator when the fatigue cracks occur(as they will probably sooner than later).
2) Do it over for a third time
3) Reskin both elevators with .020
4) Find some way to stabilize the skin
5) Sell the kit and take up stamp-collecting
Dave A.
RV-6A QB