I fiddled with the pop rivet puller and got it working again. The internal mechanism is off center, and frequently sticks for this reason. I’ll replace it soon. With it temporarily working again, I was able to finish all the dimpling on both the skins and the skeleton. I need to prep the trim servo and then it will be final priming time. I’ve decided to prime one more time for the remaining trim tab areas.

Dimpled the skeleton except for the areas needed the close quarters dimple set… My pop rivet puller decided to stop working. It’s done this before. Time for a new one.

Went back to the garage and finished dimpling the skins save the areas needing close quarter dimple dies…

I started out today by dimpling the counterweight skins.

And countersinking the counterweights themselves. Both went smoothly.

Next was countersinking the trim tab spar on the top, and the end ribs. This was difficult as the sheet is very thin. I’ve wound up with a couple holes that will need oops rivets.

Next it was time to start work on the electric trim assembly. I hadn’t even opened the box prior to today, so I spent some time familiarizing myself with the parts and then replicating the drawings to understand how everything fit together.

Here are the measurements provided by Van’s from the drawings. The resulting placement seems off-center, but when you factor in the cotter pin, I think its perfect.

Here is how I match drilled the two supports for the servo. Got to love the long cleco clamps.

Here’s a picture of the final setup. It looks off-center to the right, but the directions specifically state to leave room for the pin… which I think shouldn’t be a problem with this alignment. (I wonder if the measurements do this intentionally, because everything looks centered in the drawings…)

The final and most time consuming project of the day was deburring and priming prep.  I deburred every hole and every edge (except the skins).  I also hit every part with the scotchbrite.  The next step will be deburring the skins and dimpling all the parts.  Then it will be time to take a look at the infamous trim tab…