Alex's Vans RV-10 Build Log

I'm finally getting close to finishing up the elevators after having started working on them almost 2 years ago. The few tasks remaining were to finish rolling the leading edges attaching the counterweights attaching the trim tabs I had considered implementing Van's service bulletin SB-00043  at this time to address potential elevator skin cracks, but decided not to do so for the following reasons My elevators have already been completed to a stage that makes applying tank sealant in the required areas somewhat difficult I had primed the elevator skins and spars meaning any tank sealant applied would likely not adhere well to those surfaces The RV-10 was introduced in 2003, and the service bulletin wasn't issued until twenty years later in 2023 for both the RV-10 and RV-14. This made me think cracking was a relatively rare occurrence in the RV-10, and may be more likely to occur in a higher stress aerobatic environment that the RV-10 is not designed for. My plan is to inspe...

On my first attempt trying to bend the end tabs on the elevator trim tab skins, I followed the plans exactly but ran into several issues along the way that resulted in me ordering a new trim tab skin to reattempt the bends. In Section 9 Page 16 Step 5, I originally cut the V-shaped wedges from pieces of the shipping crates by hand and they matched well to the dimensions given in the plans. However, the issues I encountered while bending the tabs included the bend being too tight, increasing the risk of cracking (even though I had slightly rounded the edges of the V-blocks) the V-blocks slipping backward while bending, and tapping the bend with the rivet gun resulting in the tab being pushed back and slight denting appearing on the tab near the bend denting the trim tab skin while clamping down the inboard end of the skin sandwiched within the V-blocks. The reason for this was that the V-block doesn't extend the full length of the angled inboard end of the trim tab (to the trailing ...