SETTING UP THE ELEVATOR HORNS
There is only one picture of this entire process, so I apologize for the lack of interesting insight into this process. The fundamental reason is the sheer volume of setup time required to match the elevator horns correctly. This is a pretty critical union of the elevators that will dictate their uniform function going forward. So yeah. Align them well. Needless to say I was paranoid the whole time and very, very, very carefully proceeded with this process.
First, you place the elevators in trail, or tape them to a common flush point even with the top surface of the horizontal stabilizer. I probably spent more time here than I needed to, but I was pleased with how it ended up. I did not want to have one elevator pressing against the tape too hard and be 1/16″ higher than another. This gap would be forever in place once I joined the elevator horns.
Next, you create a drill bit guide. This is something that will ensure you do not aim up or down when drilling through the empty space between the elevator horns. This is essentially a wood channel that the drill bit will travel through making sure you don’t lose or gain any elevation in the location of the bit. Pretty clever idea Vans. Once again, I painstakingly made sure that the thickness was perfect. Too much and the elevator horns will flare out. Too little and they pinch. Just take the time and get a proper fitting jig in there.
ATTACHING THE HORNS
After all of the setup and match drilling, I WRONGLY assumed that bolting them together would be simple.
There are a series of washers that must be placed between the bearing in the center and the individual horns. I used pliers, tape, just about anything I could to make sure the correct number of washers were in place between the horns and the bearing. Ultimately, I think the most depressing thing will be taking this all apart once I’m done prior to final assembly.
- Total time today – 1.5 hours
- Total time empennage – 204.5 hours
- Total time aircraft – 213.5 hours