Posted by Just a little bit of work on the Vertical Stabilizer. I am still blocked waiting for backordered parts… the rudder hinge brackets that attach to the rear spar. So that’s preventing me from finishing the rear spar and attaching it to the skeleton. I was trying to see how far I could work around this, but there will still be some final drilling required, so I’d rather have the final opportunity to un-cleco the parts after this and debur those additional holes.
So I just went ahead and riveted the front spar doubler, and the rest of the assembly that I could to the front spar. The I visited my hangar neighbor Dave who build an RV-10 a few years ago, to help imagine what the finished product will look like!
Shop heads look great, only because I’m using the pneumatic squeezer. I did have one rivet I had to drill out… the manufactured head was at a slight angle and left a bit of a gap… but the larger 1/8″ rivets are relatively easy to drill out.
I also prepped and primed the rear spar doubler and spar caps. Ran out of the SEM self-etching primer that I like, so I used the Rustoleum. In my test pieces they performed very similarly… but using on an actual airplane part, I much prefer the SEM. The SEM applies much easier and more consistently and (with my heat gun) dries more evenly and is ready for handling (even if just to flip the piece over to spray the other side) much sooner.
Also spent some time cleaning the hangar workshop đ
Builder's Log 