Final drilled the elevator skins - 2.5 hours

I cleco'd on the skins for the elevator and proceeded to match drill the remaining holes. Now I just need to wait for the weather to get nice so I can do some priming!

Bending the Elevator Skins - 2 hours

I have asked a friend (Mike) over to give me a hand bending the elevators. He has more experience than I in this and I trust his judgement. I taped the 1/8" dia. dowels to the corners that need to bend. I used long strips of painters tape. I held the elevator in place and Mike slowly squeezed the brake, and little by little we bent the elevator skins. The painters tape is great as it allowed us to easily remove the dowel once we were done.

I was extremely pleased how they turned out. Beautiful bends....I will have to touch them up with the woods blocks as the plans suggest. They are slightly under-bent, but in my books you don't want to over-bend with the brake.

Building the Brake - 2 hours

Progress is slow. No excuses...Just not giving it my full attention lately. I managed to go pick up all the materials I need to build my brake. 2'x8's, lots of hinges, 1/8" diameter wooden dowels. I then set to work building the brake. I placed the hinges approximately 8" apart.