Vertical Stabilizer Complete!

Normally this is the first piece completed from the empennage kit. And that is true for me too, despite having already almost completed the rudder, and having fully prepared the tailcone parts for finally assembly. Now with the backordered parts in hand, it’s back to the beginning to finish the parts in sequence.

Lots of riveting today. Some easy, some quite difficult. Getting access to the middle rib is somewhat difficult, having to reach one arm up inside and stretch the other, with the rivet gun in hand. The front spar was a little easier, but still blind. A couple of ugly dents in the skin, one where the bucking bar slipped and one where there was probably not enough support (or bucking bar placed incorrectly). They both should be fillable.

Lots of easy rivets to balance things out… I was able to use the pneumatic squeezer on all the rivets along the top and bottom edges, as well as the back edge where the skin meets the rear spar.

The thing is actually pretty light without all the clecos!

Oh yeah, some time was spent cleaning up the rivet mis-hap. Knew that was going to happen one of these days.