Today, I had one of those milestones you don’t want to have, but apparently they affect a lot of builders at some point and that is a the dreaded figure 8 dimple. Luckily, mine happened on a cheap part that is easy to replace…the trim tab elevator spar. I spent today dimpling all the internal parts. I decided to get the sub-structure and tank dimple dies from Cleaveland Aircraft Tool (www.cleavelandtool.com) to see what a difference they’ll make. They produce a deeper dimple so the skin dimple (dimpled using the standard die) will nest inside the substructure dimple more accurately. This reduces skin distortion.

Here’s my dreaded F#$% up:

I had a little time left after dimpling so I decided to cut the right counterweight. Since the left elevator has more components (i.e., trim tab and related parts), the counterweight on the left remains the size it already is. The right, however, needs part of it removed. I accomplished this by drilling a hole where the two cuts meet and then cutting with a bandsaw. Didn’t turn out perfect but it is within spec and further adjustments are made later.