I drilled a hole in the aft spar of the left elevator so I could use a loop of safety wire to secure the trim tab hinge pin.
The hinge pin tucks under the spar flange to prevent it from lifting.
From the top, you can see how little of the hinge pin is visible.
I left a small amount of the pin visible at the other end of the hinge so that it’s easy to confirm the hinge is fully inserted during pre-flight.
I pulled the plane out of the garage so that I could rearrange it to work on the empennage. First up, I riveted and bolted on the up elevator stop.
I then riveted on the plate that ties the vertical stabilizer’s forward spar to the horizontal stabilizer’s front spar.
After spending most of the day cleaning out the garage, the plane is safely tucked back in.
In this orientation, I can actually completely install the empennage and still get the garage door closed. I can’t walk around the plane that way though, so I’ll likely leave off the rudder and right elevator most of the time though.
I installed the steering link so that I could adjust the length.
Finally, I decided how I was going to mount the ELT antenna, and drilled a hole in the bulkhead and installed the antenna. I still need to figure out how I’m going to secure the other end of the antenna so that it doesn’t bounce around inside the tail.
