My guess is that Vans sells more elevator trim tab replacements than any other part. I have have ruined a couple in the past.
Part of the problem, I believe, is using two sided tape to hold the wooden “wedges” in place when bending the tabs. I used MDF to make mine and I found that they can shift and the result can be a buggered tab. Tape does not adhere to wood all that well.
This year I was gifted a 3D printer and decided to make wedges out of PLA. What I found was that the two sided tape stuck to the PLA extremely well. As a result the wedges didn’t shift and the result was very nice. I suggest 3D printing the wedges if you have a printer.
I also found that a small piece of wood followed by final forming using a bucking bar – in hand – was sufficient to completing the bends.
Here are some pix. The MDF “V” I used on earlier builds is shown for reference.
Download the STL files for the wedge and the “V” Clamp Block
You will need 2 wedges and at least 3 “V” clamp blocks – 6 if you are doing both trim tabs at the same time. These were printed with PLA.