Smitty's RV-12iS Aircraft Project Blog

Saturday, January 9, 2021

Trim tab Control Horns

These go on the ends of the Trim Tabs.

Cleaned up and deburred the control horns. Time for countersinking the holes.

Countersunk the rivet holes in the control horns. Looks like the depth of the microstop countersink cage is set just right.

Checked the depth of the countersink. I did a test fit with a loose rivet to make sure that the head was flat across the surface.

Riveted the Control Horns on. I used a old paint roller inside the trim tab skins to hold it open so I could get to the rivets with my squeezer.

Pop Riveted the Spar inside the trim tab skins. Getting closer...

Cutting the trim tab hinges to size. This part was a little confusing, but I figured it out.

Placed the drill guide over the hinges. The drill guide is a heavy duty guide to put the holes in the right places for the pop-rivets.

Drilled all the holes in the hinge. I put blue tape over the holes that shouldn't be drilled.

Ready to close things up. This is where everything gets riveted together.

Done! Looking good!

Wednesday, January 6, 2021

Clecoed the ribs inside the trimtab skins

Small pieces and tight places to work.

All the ribs are clecoed in place. Now for some final drilling.

Final drilled the last hole in each rib. I had to be careful not to drill to far.

Now to disassemble and deburr all the holes. Got to get rid of all the free floating pieces of metal!

Time for pop-rivets! For the most part, I didn't have to pre-drill the holes at all.

Tuesday, January 5, 2021

Started work on the Anti-Servo Tab

This is the trim tab for the stabilator.

Removed the tabs from the trim-tab skin. I used my tin snips to cut off the tab, but left some of it in place to do a final cleanup with file.

Time for blue film therapy. Soldering iron with a rounded tip and a metal ruler.

Exposed the rivet holes. Looks cool too...

Heated up the blue film in side the skin. Seems to make it a little easier to pull off.

Smoothed and sanded the edges with 320 Grit sandpaper.

Here are the spars for both trim tabs. Ready for edge sanding.

Next... Ribs! Little bitty dudes.

Clecoed the spars inside the trim tab skin. Tight fit!

Monday, January 4, 2021

Started work on the Rudder skin

First, I have to remove this small tab.

Time for the cut. I used my tin snips to cut off the tab, but left some of it in place to do a final cleanup with file.

My favorite part - removing the blue stuff. This is very time consuming!

Finally! The blue stuff is out!

Now for some blue film therapy. A metal ruler and a soldering iron do the trick (and it looks cool...).

Nice look! Protects the finish as well. BTW, I rounded off the tip of the soldering iron to make sure that all it does is melt the blue film and doesn't scratch the skin.

Inserted the spar and ribs inside the skin. Now for some riveting!

Cleco, cleco, cleco.... I'm going to need more of these...

Time to rivet. These pop-rivets are so easy! Feels like cheating...

Time to rivet on the Trim Tab. I assume this will need a little adjustment later when this dude starts flying.

Thar' tis...... A thing of beauty!

Saturday, January 2, 2021

Started work on the Rudder

Cut out the Spar Caps for the Spar.

Started work on the Rudder. Cut out the Spar Caps for the Spar.

Separated the Hinge Brackets. These will be riveted to the Main Spar of the Rudder.

Smoothed the edges of the Hinge Brackets. This scotch-brite wheel is now on it's 2nd RV Aircraft!

Smoothed the edges of the rudder main spar.

Now ready for attaching the spar caps and hinge brackets.

Positioned the Spar Caps. The Hinge Brackets will go on top of these.

Holes drilled! Ready for deburring.

Time to fit the rudder horn. It will be riveted to the rudder spar.

Final drilled the Rudder Horn to spar. Ready for riveting!

Clecoed the spar caps and hinge bracket into place. Now for the ribs!

Trail fit of the rudder spar to the vertical stabilizer. I used a tie wire to fish it in to place.

A handy tool for holding tiny washer in tight places. These are available at Aircraft Spruce.

Thursday, December 31, 2020

Started work on the Vertical Stabilizer ribs

Here are the plans. Doesn't look too complicated.

Pealing off the Blue Stuff. Not fun, but must be done...

Trim off the front of the ribs. This is most likely to prevent outward dents in the vertical stabilizer skin when attached. I also deburred and sanded all the edges on each rib.