Left Elevator Priming

Today I finished dimpling the skins using the c-frame and moved on to priming.  Prepping the parts was definitely easier since I had already done the majority of the scuffing and just needed to hit the parts with acid etch to clean them and get the aluminum oxide off.  It still took a while, but was a lot less tiring.

The main pain point today was simply the temperature and humidity.  I sprayed in the garage since it was raining out, but it was still cold enough that I spent 75% of my time just standing around waiting for coats to dry.  I was comfortable working outside, so I hadn't cranked up the propane heater, but next time I may need to try warming up the garage for an hour or so before I start shooting primer.  I think if I get it warm enough it'll retain enough heat with the heater off while I prime.  As usual, I got the gun settings figured out when I was almost done. 

I looked at the trim tab spar again and decided to go ahead and order a replacement part and redo it.  While I had the countersink set at the appropriate depth (.007" deep of flush), I didn't have any kind of a guide block backing up the thin spar material.  That let the pilot of the bit wander just enough to make the holes larger than they should be. It's purely because the material is so thin, so the margin for error is pretty slim.  The trick is to match drill a piece of wood and clamp it to the part.  As the countersink bit goes through the thin material, this way it still has a guide hole to keep it from wandering.  I'm glad I learned this lesson on a cheap, relatively small part (it's the spar that is the 2nd part from the right in the picture above).  I need to order proseal from Van's this week anyway (need it for the trim tab, as well as the fuel tanks, which I'll get to at some point this winter), so I'll have them send a new spar too.  I'll be able to continue building the elevator without the spar, so it doesn't really matter how long it takes to get here.  I don't know if parts are available readily or not.  The backlog of kits just keeps growing.  I saw posted yesterday that Van's has 1,600 pending kit orders right now!  Combine unprecedented order volume and the supply chain issues, and ordering things becomes a bit of a gamble.  I just noticed that fuselage kits are now out to 8 months of lead time for the 9A.  I should still be fine since I have a solid 6+ months of work to do on the wings, and the fact I ordered my fuselage a few months ago.  I'll have to figure out when to order the finishing kit - it also has a lead time of 8 months right now, but could easily extend beyond that if things keep up like they have been.  The fuselage will take me a solid 9 months or more to work on, so I'll just keep my eye on the lead time of the finishing kit over the next few months.  If it bumps out beyond 8 months, I'll just order it and deal with how to store it if it gets here before I'm ready.