Service Bulletin

  • SB-00043 : Elevator skin cracks
    Empennage Service Bulletin
    Nov 9, 2024

    Unfortunately I already had the elevators assembled and balanced, as well as the fiberglass tips riveted on when this service bulletin came out. I ended up drilling out the rivets to pul off the tips to rebalance by replacing the main lead counterweights, instead of riveting on a secondary weight specified in the SB. As far as getting the proseal to create a clean and minimal fillet, this was quite a challenge. I used a semco cartridge with a tip drilled out and a 1/4" aluminum tube inserted. Friction was enough to hold it in place without taping it like the instructions suggested. After laying in a bead and using the tube itself to create a fillet, I found trying to clean it up futher with another tool was just creating more of a mess considering the limited working space, so I'm guessing a have a tad more sealant than absolutely necessary.

  • SB 18-09-17 : Cracking of aft fuse forward bottom skin
    Service Bulletin
    Nov 19, 2022

    Service Bulletin link from Vans

    This service bulletin addresses cracks forming on the bottom skin of the tail, and the adjoining J-stiffeners attached inside. Since the tail was still detached from the forward fuselage, I figured it would be easy enough to just install the kit and not have it on the condition inspection checklist. Overall, it was relatively straightforward although crawling inside the tail to rivet the new brackets proved to be quite difficult, as the location literally required someone to crawl inside the tailcone. The resulting reinforcement plate on the exterior I decided to prime the contact patch since all external surfaces are currently unprimed.

  • SB 16-03-28 : Inboard aileron hinge brackets
    Section 15 Service Bulletin
    Dec 12, 2020

    While not immediately obvious when starting the aileron hinge brackets I found that the parts were missing from my inventory for the inboard brackets. After digging a bit, I found that my kit included the service bulletin 16-03-28 subkit that address potential cracking problems with the original brackets. The new brackets are considerably heavier with a piece of angle aluminum instead of a folded flange, as well as two doublers with their own flanges on the backside.

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