Scott's RV-14 Build

Right Elevator Leading Edge

I'm waiting on some specialty crimpers for the mini-Molex connectors used in the plane. I need to do some wiring work on the servo but need the proper tools. A lot of people bad mouth the Molex connectors as being difficult to work with and use D-sub connectors instead. I've watched videos on both. I don't have an opinion, yet. I asked the guys at Steinair yesterday about Molex connectors and they had no issues with them. I wanted to let the left elevator trailing edge cure another day. There wasn't much left to do except rolling the right elevator leading edge. I was kinda putting it off after doing the rudder and trying to match the radius templates. It was an aggravating experience. Fortunately there were no templates for the elevators. So I dove in and it all went pretty smooth. I found using a 1.5 " OD PVC pipe to get the basic shape then tightening up the radius near the edge with 1" PVC worked pretty well. I also used Gorilla Tape to secure the pipe to the skin and it worked better then standard duct tape. The riveting went pretty smooth although getting the factory head to set perfectly flush and flat on a radiused surface is next to impossible, at least for me. Then tackled the elevator lead counterweight. There's 2 in each elevator and all 4 required significant trimming per plans to fit. My bandsaw worked well as long as I fed it slowly. That and lots of elbow grease with a file got the job done. All 4 complete and 2 mounted, torqued and witness marked. The right elevator is basically done. Also bought a 6-32 tap, foam brushes and Gorilla Tape at HD.

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