Elevator - final assembly (part 1)

I tapped the hinge pin out an inch or so and trimmed it about a half inch shorter, then put it back and put holes on both ends of the barrel to put safety wire through it. The twisted safety wire on both ends of the hinge will ensure it doesn’t come apart.

I riveted together the skeleton, then clecoed the skins onto it on both sides, and clecoed the horn assembly. The wire was zip-tied to the skeleton with two ties (one on the skeleton, and one connecting the wire to the other zip tie), and fed through the grommet in the nose rib. It’s ready for final riveting now.

In retrospect I wish I had put more thought into the hinge position. One half of the hinge has barrel segments on the outermost side of both ends, and thus holds the safety wire, and in my case I had already drilled rivet holes for this side to attach to the elevator. This means I had to put the safety wire between the elevator skin and the rear trim tab channel, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. However I wonder if it would be better or easier if this half of the hinge were attached to the trim tab instead of the elevator, and thus the safety wire could have been housed inside the trim tab itself.

It worked out okay though, and I was able to tuck it in to the elevator.