Finished riveting everything to the rear spars… almost.

Finished riveting all the stuff to the spars…

I really struggled riveting the aileron hinge brackets to the spar. Couldn’t get the squeezer in there. My rivet set wasn’t long enough to clear the bracket. So I had to use the offset rivet set. But that one is thicker and interfered with the bracket rivets. Mangled a bunch of rivets and drilled them out. Ended up mangling the bracket and bending the doubler drilling out one of them. Thankfully the spar was undamaged.

I drilled out all the rivets and disassembled the brackets and doublers. The hinge is fine. Emailed Van’s to send me a new doubler and angle bracket.

On the other wing I had the brilliant idea to try shooting the rivets for the hinge bracket from the other side of the spar. This worked a lot better.

Should have replacement parts by next weekend when I get back from Florida.

Today’s Time (hours):	2.0
Wing Time (hours):	65.0
Total Time (hours):	276.0

Primed and started riveting the rear spar and Ordered Engine and Prop

Had an awesome time at Sun N Fun with Jared, Wes, and the Family. That’s me ordering an engine and prop in Van’s tent! And that’s me and Remy sitting in the RV14 at Van’s booth. Suddenly this is getting more real.

We got back from Lakeland this morning and I got right back to work. No rest for the wicked! Primed the rear spars and all of their associated parts.

Clecoed the aileron hinges together.

…and riveted them.

Clecoed the spars together.

Started riveting the doublers to the spars with the squeezer.

Today’s Time (hours):	3.0
Wing Time (hours):	63.0
Total Time (hours):	274.0

Wing ribs complete

Riveted the forward flanges of all the ribs to the spar with the rivet gun. My riveting seems to be getting better… Didn’t have to drill any out. I set the pressure at the compressor to 75psi for the -4 rivets. This seemed to work really well. I had tried a lower pressure in the past and the manufactured head would get all beat up. At the lower pressure, I had to hit the rivet so many times that I think it was getting work hardened.

I also finished installing the AN3 hardware and torquing to spec. Kinda sorta starting to look like wings…

Picked all the parts (including the service bulletin kit) for the rear spar.

Today’s Time (hours):	2.0
Wing Time (hours):	54.5
Total Time (hours):	265.5

Primed everything and started assembly

Wiped everything down with acetone and then shot primer. I did the spars first, then the ribs in two batches, and finally all the other small parts.

Riveted the flap hinges and hinge ribs to the ribs. I started using the squeezer but it couldn’t reach most of the rivets so just switched to the gun and shot the rest of them.

Assembled and riveted the the torque tube brackets and riveted them to the inboard ribs.

Clecoed the ribs to the spars and reinstalled the AN3 hardware and torqued everything down. I also installed the snap bushing in the systems holes in all the ribs. Many of them were a bit loose. I’ll have to give some thought on how I want to resolve this.

Today’s Time (hours):	7.0
Wing Time (hours):	52.5
Total Time (hours):	263.5

Rinse, repeat, right spar complete

Match drilled the J channel to the spar.

Machine countersunk the nutplate attach holes.

Riveted in the nutplates

Countersunk the screw holes.

Machine countersunk all the skin attach holes.

Riveted in the nutplates at the tip end of the spar.

Riveted the doubler to the spar and installed the tank attach nutplates.

Final drilled, deburred, scuffed and primed the aileron bell crank brackets

Installed and torqued the aileron bell crank brackets.

Right spar done!

Today’s Time (hours):	4.5
Wing Time (hours):	21.5
Total Time (hours):	232.5

Left spar complete

Riveted the spar to the doubler with the 5 AN470 rivets using the squeezer. Then shot the tank attach nutplates using the gun.

Final drilled and deburred the left aileron brackets.

Scuffed and primed the aileron brackets with rattle can.

Installed and torqued the aileron brackets to the spar.

Put up the left spar and moved the right spar to the bench. Hopefully I’ll get that one knocked out tomorrow.

Today’s Time (hours):	1.0
Wing Time (hours):	17.0
Total Time (hours):	228.0

Countersunk ALL the holes

Countersunk the tank attach screw holes.

Installed the inspection plate nut plates and countersunk the screw holes.

Countersunk all the skin attach holes.

Installed the snap bushings and the the four nutplates at the tip end of the spar.

Today’s Time (hours):	2.0
Wing Time (hours):	16.0
Total Time (hours):	227.0

Installed left tank attach nut plates

Final drilled #40 all the nut plate rivet holes.

Machine countersunk the nut plate rivet holes

Riveted the nut plates.

Lots of nut plates.

so. many. nut plates.

Today’s Time (hours):	2.0
Wing Time (hours):	14.0
Total Time (hours):	225.0

Aft Fuselage Complete!

My replacement cover plate arrived from Van’s. I deburred it, broke the edges, and dimpled the correct side this time! I’ll prime the inside next time I shoot primer.

We riveted the top skin in place. We moved the fuselage to the floor and Remy crawled inside and bucked while I shot.

Still looks more comfortable than a Delta coach seat.

And that completes the aft fuselage!

All that’s left is fitting and drilling the horizontal stabilizer and elevators and a bit of fiberglass work on the tips. Then the entire empennage kit will be complete!

Today’s Time (hours):	3.0
Empennage Time (hours):	186.0
Total Time (hours):	186.0

Riveted the top side skins

Clecoed and bolted the vertical stabilizer to the aft fuselage and match drilled the upper attachment holes.

Rolled the aft fuselage on its side to rivet the top side skins.

Finished riveting both top side skins to the aft fuselage.

Clecoed the top skin in place.

Tomorrow I’ll rivet the top skin and that will complete the aft fuselage.

Today’s Time (hours):	3.0
Empennage Time (hours):	183.0
Total Time (hours):	183.0