Trim tab work and getting the elevators ready for pre-close inspection - 3 hours

I have to admit I am quite defeated about yesterdays mess up. Seems I shine in the tough stuff and mess up the really easy stuff. The saving grace is that it is in a non-structural area and any cosmetic issue can be mitigated. Perhaps I can be clever with polyester filler? I'll wait for Van's response....

After reading on the forums...I don't think I am the only one to have a oops dimple.

So I soldered on and got back to it. I began to research the holes and dimpling that is required for the various blind rivets. It's really tough to find solid information and I looked for about an hour (Research time not included in build time BTW). What I determined is this. MK-319-BS rivets use the #40 dimple....but require 7/64" hole as per the plans...however this results in a very tight fit. The general consensus is that a #33 drill bit is preferred. So I guess I drill/dimple for #40 and then drill out the hole to accept the MK-319-BS rivet. There is even less info on MSP-42 rivets. Again. The rivet diameter is 1/8" but this results in a hole that is very tight. Need a slightly larger drill bit. #30 is 0.2185" dia.

I marked out the elevator tabs and drilled two holes for the MSP-42 rivets (I used the 1/8" bit but ever so slightly reamed the holes. There is still a tight fit for the rivets. I then completed dimpling the elevator skins.

I am a bit stumped on how to rivet the elevators so that I can still have the Canadian pre-close inspection performed. After much thought. I finally decided to rivet the counter balance skins to elevator skins with the two rivets as the instructions/plans suggest. This way the inspector can clearly see anything before closing up and it will be much easier to fix something if he needs it done.

Also it will be easier to apply RTV at the trailing edge when it's still open. (I still have to squeeze the trailing edges a bit as my elevator skins are a tad underbent) I want to do this when the RTV is wet and I am ready to close the elevators.

With the help of the neighbors boy - Jayden (A future EAA member??) we riveted the elevators to the counter balance skins.

Then I jumped back onto the trim tab and machine countersunk the top of E-607PP. I must say that It is extremely difficult to machine these pieces as it seems I have to counter sink deeper than I want to. If I countersink so that a rivet sit flush in the hole, the dimpled material that's nested to the hole sits proud of the hole by a few thousandths. So I countersunk a bit more so that the nested dimples aren't so proud.