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

Attach bottom rudder fairing

Last night I put a layer of glass over the foam in the VS tip.

This morning, I trimmed and sanded the edges.

I filled with a thick mixture of glass micro bubbles and epoxy resin.

I set aside the VS tip to cure and got started attaching the bottom rudder fairing. I measured and marked the fairing and match drilled #40 and clecoed in place.

I used a nut plate, a #6 screw and a rivet as a drill jig.

I dimpled all the nut plate attach holes with the squeezer. I needed the close quarters dimple dies for the aft-most holes.

I dimpled the nut plates.

I machine countersunk the rudder horn bracket. It’s too thick to dimple.

I riveted the nut plates in place. I made the aft-most hole too close to the aft edge of the attach strip. So I cut one ear off of the nut plate.

I machine countersunk the fiberglass for #6 screws.

Everything went together just fine.

I disassembled and started work on the doubler for the tail light. I centered and taped it in place. I drilled the #30 holes and clecoed. I ordered a #43 drill and a 4 40 tap from amazon for the other two holes.

Today’s Time (hours):	3.0
Empennage Time (hours):	209.5
Total Time (hours):	209.5

Attached top rudder tip

I was away in south Florida all last week for work. Good trip but glad to get back in the shop today.

I final-fit the top tip to the rudder with some sand paper. I match drilled #40 all of the holes.

I final drilled the holes to #30.

I machine countersunk the holes in the tip to fit the dimples in the skin.

I dimpled the holes in the skin.

I attached the tip to the rudder with the pneumatic pop rivet gun.

Et viola…

I attached the rudder to the vertical stabilizer on the workbench. I fit the VS tip with sandpaper and match drilled all the holes #40.

I used the band saw to cut some foam to back the fiberglass closeout. I test fit the assembly to the VS and used sand paper to gradually reduce the size of the foam until I got an interference fit.

I mixed up some epoxy resin with glass micro bubbles to . nice thick paste that wouldn’t run.

…and used it to glue the foam into place.

Today’s Time (hours):	1.5
Empennage Time (hours):	206.5
Total Time (hours):	206.5

Sanded and attached horizontal stabilizer tips

Sanded and fit the HS tip to fit. Before I paint the airplane, these will need to be filled and finish sanded.

Final drilled #30, dimpled the skins, and machine countersunk the tip.

I picked up a pneumatic rivet puller at Harbor Freight yesterday. I used it to set the rivets and attach the tips. So much nicer the the manual puller!

This completes the work on the horizontal stabilizer and elevators. So I’ve moved them to a safe place until I’m ready to final attach them at the end of the build.

Today’s Time (hours):	1.5
Empennage Time (hours):	205.0
Total Time (hours):	205.0

Attached left elevator tip

I final drilled #30 the elevator skin to the tip. Then I removed the tip and countersunk the holes.

I dimpled the holes in the elevator.

I had to remove the counterweight to dimple the forward two holes. Then reinstalled and re-torqued the nuts.

Installed the tip with CS4 pop rivets. I’m thinking I might replace my pop rivet tool. I’m getting a burr on the top of all of the rivets and I’ve had several break off in the tool. I’m careful to keep the tool perpendicular to the work but this keeps happening. A while back, a mandrel got jammed in the tool. I disassembled it to remove the mandrel and reassembled it. But I think the jaws are not grabbing properly now.

In other news, you can see that after trimming and sanding the left HS tip, it fits nicely. The right tip is another story. I think I neglected to final fit it after I sanded the foam or perhaps I seated the foam too deeply. In any event, it spread the tip about an eighth too far and now the tip wont fit between the top and bottom skins at the spar. I’ll noodle on how I might salvage the part for a while and If I can’t I’ll order a new one. My best thought at this point is to take a 1/8″ wedge out of the middle of the foam/fiberglass with a saw and then put another layer of glass over it.

Today’s Time (hours):	1.0
Empennage Time (hours):	201.0
Total Time (hours):	201.0

Riveted aft deck

The nut plates and new static line that I ordered from Van’s showed up today. I installed the static line.

Riveted the nut plates in place.

Riveted the aft stiffeners.

Countersunk the upper cover plate attach holes.

Installed the left cover plate. The other one is on it’s way from Van’s. I bought some stainless screws to install the cover plates.

I riveted the aft deck in place.

Today’s Time (hours):	3.0
Empennage Time (hours):	180.0
Total Time (hours):	180.0

Dimpled top side skins and aft deck

Dimpled the top side skins. I used the squeezer for most of the holes and the DRDT-2 for the ones the squeezer couldn’t reach.

IMG_1998-1

I clecoed the side skin on. And I actually remembered to peel the rivet lines this time.

IMG_1995-1

I dimpled the F-01409 frame.

IMG_1996-1

And the aft deck.

IMG_1997-1

I clecoed the aft deck, F-01409 frame in place along with the Horizontal Stab Attach Bar Support Angle and deck angle. I clamped the attach bar to the support angle and match drilled. I also match drilled the deck angle to the aft bulkhead.

I dimpled the cover plates for #6 screws as well. Then I realized for the first time that the cover plates are not symmetrical. <moan> And of course one is now dimpled the wrong way and primed on the wrong side. I went to order a new one from Van’s web site only to find that F-14112 does not exist in their parts inventory and it’s an hour after closing time. Oh well. I’ll call the tomorrow. No big rush given that I’m almost out of parts and my wing kit isn’t scheduled to ship for more than a month.

Today’s Time (hours):	2.5
Empennage Time (hours):	177.0
Total Time (hours):	177.0

Top skin assembly

Broke the edges of the top skin with the edge roller. Peeled the vinyl from the rivet lines and dimpled the top skin on the DRDT-2.

Dimpled the top rib with the squeezer.

Dimpled the top skin doubler with the squeezer.

Dimpled the stiffener and back riveted it to the skin. Back riveted the doubler and riveted the rib with the gun and bucking bar.

Today’s Time (hours):	1.5
Empennage Time (hours):	174.5
Total Time (hours):	174.5

Hey–this thing’s starting to look like an airplane.

Scuffed and primed the side skins.

Machine countersunk all the holes in the longerons.

Dimpled the remaining stiffeners.

Dimpled the skins.

Clecoed everything together.

In my excitement over putting all this together I neglected to peel the the blur vinyl from the rivet lines. I’ll have to remove some clecos and do that before I rivet.

I also riveted the aft bulkhead to the aft bottom skin.

Today’s Time (hours):	4.0
Empennage Time (hours):	157.5
Total Time (hours):	157.5

Bulkheads Riveted

Clecoed and riveted the F-01412 aft bulkhead and tie down bracket.

Clecoed and riveted the F-01411 bulkhead and aft horizontal stabilizer attach bars.

Clecoed and riveted the F-01410 bulkhead and forward horizontal stabilizer attach bars.

Clecoed and riveted the F-01407 bulkhead.

Clecoed and riveted the F-01408 bulkhead and rudder cable bracket. Also added the stiffener clips to the bottom of the bulkhead. I believe that these were added to revs of the kit that came out after service bulletin 18-09-17 was issued to address cracking in the forward bottom skin.

Riveted nut plates to the battery angles. So why are these called battery angles when they have absolutely nothing to do with the battery? In fact the battery isn’t even located in the tail. My guess is that these parts were originally part of the RV-10 kit. The RV-14 borrows parts from other RV’s. So while in the RV-14 they are part of the aft bell crank assembly, in the RV-10 I’ll bet they formed part of the battery box and simply retained their part number and name when they were introduced to the RV-14. If anyone knows for sure, please comment.

The forward nut plate holes do not get nut plates as they are not applicable to the RV-14.

Riveted the battery angles to the bell crack ribs.

Riveted nut plates to the F-01406B bulkhead. Note the discolorations at the bottom of the bulkhead. I managed to scratch the primer moving the part before it was fully cured. So I touched it up. Apparently re-shooting P60G2 creates this discoloration. It seems to have dried properly and doesn’t seem to be problematic; just unsightly.