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Fitting Elevator on HS for 1st time....

kjowen

Well Known Member
Almost finished with empennage kit.
I am at the point of fitting the right Elevator on the HS.
Attaching the assembly with bolts the counter weight ends up almost 1" inside the HS skin.
Directions call for trimming skin HS-801PP and fiberglass tip HS-615 as req'd to provide a 1/8 min gap with Elevator counterbalance arm...

But... 1" ish? ....Really?

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p.s. I have pictures but photo-bucket wants me to pay now.... Any FREE alternatives?

Thanks!
 
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I was hoping I had photos of this on my build log, but I don't. To my vague recollection (keeping mind this was ~7 years ago), there was a surprising amount of overlap to be trimmed out. I realize, of course, that this isn't very precise.

Do you have a photo showing how the leading edge of the elevator nests into the h-stab? I assume it can't really be too far forward (ie the rod ends screwed in too far), or else you'd have had a **** of a time getting the pivot bolts installed...
 
Could that be the newer elevators with an older H stab? The newer elevators have a different lead counterweight setup than the older versions.. are you the original owner of the kit? Or was it mixed and matched with other parts from another time?
 
I just did this a few months ago, but didn't get a picture of that particular dimension.

I remember it being quite a bit that got trimmed off the h/s to make this fit. 5/8" or 3/4" or something like that? Sorry I don't have the exact number, but it doesn't seem like you're out of line.
 
Thanks guys, except for the drawing, there was no mention of trimming the skin, so I was second guessing the need to trim... But, your feedback was right on the money... it needs about 1" of skin trimmed to allow the Elevator to swing. Your memory is still good! and the pictures really helped... It also gives me some leads on the next task of drilling the horns...

Question, since the Elevator has to be in trail with the HS, would you drill the horn(s) before trimming the skin?
The skin seems to automatically align the Elevator with the HS....
 
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Question, since the Elevator has to be in trail with the HS, would you drill the horn(s) before trimming the skin?
The skin seems to automatically align the Elevator with the HS....

I trimmed the skin first. I wanted to see the horn alignment through the full swing of the elevators before I drilled. It's easy to clamp the elevators in-trail after the trim.
 
I trimmed the HS skin first, then clamped the horns in trail with some cheap bar clamps I had laying around. worked fine.
 

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Could that be the newer elevators with an older H stab? The newer elevators have a different lead counterweight setup than the older versions.. are you the original owner of the kit? Or was it mixed and matched with other parts from another time?

Been a few years since I did mine but the comment is the first thing that came to my mine.

I have a very early RV-8 kit that I purchased used / started. I upgraded to some of the newer kit elevator hardware to save weight and the images match what I remember.

IIRC, the early RV-8 used RV-6 elevator counterweights. Later RV-8 kits used RV-7 elevator counterweights saving over one pound of lead per elevator. The RV-7 elevator counterweights were farther away from the trailing edge of the elevator requiring less weight to balance.

My RV-8 tail is complete.
RV-8 wings complete.
RV-8 Fuselage kit scheduled for delivery on Wednesday 08-12-2020
 
Thanks, No I am the original owner / builder of this kit.
It was purchased directly from Van's.
 
Looks about normal from what I remember. When I first put Elevator on I thought I was a rivet hole off. Double checked plans, then did the trim cuts. Pretty easy job.
 
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