Feb 14, 2022     Day 91 - Tail Cone - (9 hours)       Category: Empennage

Page 10-5 Step 3-4. Page 10-6 Step 1. Page 10-8 Step 4. Created tool for marking center of F-1047 Stiffeners. Removed vinyl and marked appropriately. Marked, Drilled, and notched F1032-L/R.

  Feb 13, 2022     Day 90 - Tail Cone - (4 hours) Category: Empennage

Page 10-5 Step 3. Trim F-1047 Stiffeners to 45deg. and deburred.

  Feb 12, 2022     Day 89 - Tail Cone - (9 hours) Category: Empennage

Page 10-4 Step 3-5. Page 10-5 Step 1-2. Deburred and fluted Frames F-1006, F-1007 and F-1008. Final Drilled common holes. Cut Fuselage Stiffeners from J-channel lengths.

  Feb 11, 2022     Day 88 - Tail Cone - (6 hours) Category: Empennage

Page 10-2 Steps 4-5. Page 10-3 Step 5. Page 10-4 Step 3-5. Had to recreate F-1011E due to countersinking wrong side of Angle for nut-late. Deburred F-1010 bulkhead and match drilled 13 holes thru F-1010+1010A+1010C-L/R. Final-Drilled Bulkhead and Doublers.

  Feb 07, 2022     Day 87 - Elevator - (7 hours)       Category: Empennage

Page 9-15 Step 8-9. Page 9-18 Step 3-8. Page 9-19 Steps 1-2. Same as yesterday only on Right Elevator. Started Section 10-3 Step 3-4. Drilled holes in F-1011A Bulkhead Stiffener using F-1011 Bulkhead and F-1011C Attachment Bars.

  Feb 06, 2022     Day 86 - Elevator - (7 hours)       Category: Empennage

Page 9-15 Step 8-9. Page 9-18 Step 3-8. Page 9-19 Steps 1-2. Cut Counter weights with bandsaw...messy and hard on saw blade. Attached Counter weights to Elevator. Match drilled holes in Left Elevator Trim tab hinge. TAPE the joint on Trim Tab to provent chips from wedging between skin and spar! Removed hinge pin and trimmed hinges. Riveted hinge halves and replaced pin. Drilled a safety wire hole in Rear Spar. Bent Hinge pin as indicated. NOTE: squeezing rivets over the hinge requires 4" thin nosed yoke. Unfortunately, the nose doesn't allow clearance for the hinges and bends the hinge eye. So I cut the head off a steel bolt as flat as possible to give a slight clearance over the hinge when squeezing the rivets.

  Feb 05, 2022     Day 85 - Elevator - (1 hour) Category: Empennage

Page 9-15 Step 1. Riveted skins to the flanges of the Outboard Tip rib.

  Feb 04, 2022     Day 84 - Elevator - (11 hours)       Category: Empennage

Page 9-14 Steps 11-12. Page 9-15 Steps 2-6. Cleaned Elevator TE and riveted. Riveted Shear Clips. Rolled LE of Elevators and riveted.

  Feb 01, 2022     Day 82 - Elevator Trim Tabs - (3 hours)       Category: Empennage

Page 9-17 Step 8. Finished riveting Trim Tab Horns, bottom flange, to Trim Tab Spar.

  Feb 02, 2022     Day 83 - Elevator / Trim Tabs / Tailcone - (8 hours)       Category: Empennage

Page 9-14 Steps 8-10. Page 9-17 Steps 9-10. Page 10-2 Steps 2-4. Page 10-3 Step 2. Applied Proseal to Trailing edge foam ribs and installed. Prosealed Trailing edge wedge and clecoed weighting edge on board to cure. Applied Proseal to foam ribs and installed in Tab. Clecoed top Flange while in forming blocks. Cleaned and deburred F-1012 Bulkhead and Tie Down Bar. Match drilled Tie Down to Bulkhead. Created Rudder Cable Angle F-1011E. Cleaned edges and final drilled holes as instructed.

  Jan 31, 2022     Day 81 - Elevator Trim Tabs - (3 hours)       Category: Empennage

Page 9-17 Step 8. Page 9-18 Steps 1-2. Riveted Trim Tab Horns, bottom flange to E-920 Trim Tab Spar. Good to squeeze the innermost rivets first! Cut trim tab hinges and drilled indexing hole.

  Jan 30, 2022     Day 80 - Elevator Trim Tabs - (5 hours)       Category: Empennage

Pg. 9-17 steps 2, 4-7. Bent trim tab skin with spar in place to get a good apex. Clamped a piece of aluminum angle to keep skin even as it bent. Braced tab with a board and clamps to minimize stress on spar flange. Final drilled tab horns and deburred. Dimpling horn holes required borrowing a 3/8" female dimple die to keep from impacting close out tab. Not priming parts.

  Jan 29, 2022     Day 79 - Elevator Trim Tabs - (3 hours) Category: Empennage

Pg. 9-16 Step 1. Remade Clamp Blocks. Got a better remake by precisely cutting a scrap aluminum sheet to the wedge dimensions and transferring to wood blocks.

  Jan 27, 2022     Day 77 - Elevator Trim Tab - (8 hours)       Category: Empennage

Pg 9-16 Steps 3-5. Scuffed tab skins for rib adhesion. Completed TE Bend with homemade Brake. Should've used straighter boards and stronger hinges, but they worked. Bent close out tabs on the trim tabs over blocks that slid while forming. Caused the 1/32 offset to increase and closeout to not be perpendicular. Forgot to use double sticky-back tape to prevent blocks from sliding.

  Jan 28, 2022     Day 78 - Elevator Trim Tab - (3 hours)       Category: Empennage

Pg 9-17 step 1. Match drilled Tab Close outs after spending more time working on getting better bends on the close out tabs.

  Jan 26, 2022     Day 76 - Elevator - (3.5 hours) Category: Empennage

Pg 9-14 Step 7, pg 9-16 step 2, pg 9-17 step 3. Templates were NOT to scale. Had to take page to Staples and have them enlarged until they met the proper scale. Then cut the printed templates and created trailing edge ribs and trim tab ribs from PVC Blocks. Cut Trim Tab horns and deburred.

  Jan 22, 2022     Day 74 - Elevator - (10 hours)       Category: Empennage

9-12 Step 6, Page 9-13 Steps 1-3, Page 9-14 Steps 1-5, Page 9-15 Step 7. Finally! Learned that soaking a pop rivet in penetrating oil like WD-40 reduces the drag on the mandrel reducing the chance of breakage prior to the snapping point. Finished riveting rib halves! Imparted the edge bend onto the leading edge of E-1001A here while it's easy to do with hand tool before getting it on front spar where the horn can get in the way. Riveted skins to front spars with the exceptions noted in instructions. Riveted root rib aft flange, gusset, and skin. Riveted Trim Cable Anchor Brackets.

  Jan 23, 2022     Day 75 - Elevator - (6 hours)       Category: Empennage

Page 9-14 Step 6. Riveted Tip Rib Assembly.

  Jan 21, 2022     Day 73 - Elevator - (4 hours)       Category: Empennage

Page 9-12 Step 6, Page 10-2 Step 6, Page 10-4 Step 1-2. Continued trying pop rivets in elevator rib halves and researching solutions without luck. Tried making a spacer to help with puller space, but that didn't help with mandrel breakage and caused a bad pull on one that had to be ground out. Created bulkhead stiffener for tailcone. Created F-1010A Horizontal Stab Attachment Angle and F1010C Bulkhead Stiffener.

  Jan 20, 2022     Day 72 - Elevator - (7 hours)       Category: Empennage

Page 9-16 Step 1, Page 10-2 Step 1, Page 10-3 Step 1. While researching why our pop rivets keep breaking off in the middle of the mandrel, we cut the trim tab clamping blocks. Be very accurate. I eventually had to remake these due to them being loose and not form fitting. Created Tie Down Bar. Be sure to read on how to tap before starting. Straightened Horizontal Stabilizer Attachment Bars. It really does work!

  Jan 19, 2022     Day 71 - Elevator - (7.5 hours)       Category: Empennage

Page 9-12 Step 5-6. Finished riveting skins and started joining riveting rib halves. Reworked counterbalance skin as it was originally riveted upside down.

  Jan 18, 2022     Day 70 - Elevator - (4.5 hours)       Category: Empennage

Page 9-12 Steps 2-4. Finished Riveting skins to one side of elevator using thin nosed 4" squeezer. Found the 4" squeezed better with an extended flat die allowing more ram to be in the yoke. Forms better shop end of rivet. Borrowed special bucking bar. The board gave a better angle on bar face for bucking.

  Jan 03, 2022     Day 68 - Elevator - (2 hours)       Category: Empennage

Page 9-11 Step 4. Riveting rear spar to aft rib flanges is causing the flange to bow and form a gap between them. Determined we are squeezing with the manufactured head on the wrong side. It should be on the thinner flange side and not the thicker spar side. The tail stretches the thinner material as it forms. Had to drill out and try again.

  Jan 17, 2022     Day 69 - Elevator - (6 hours)       Category: Empennage

Page 9-11 Steps 4-6, Page 12 Step 1. Finished riveting rear spar and rib flanges, shear clips, and Gussets. Began riveting bottom skin.

  Jun 25, 2021     Day 67 - Elevator - (2 hours) Category: Empennage

Page 9-11 Step 3. Started back riveting rib halves to skins.

  Jun 23, 2021     Day 66 - Elevator - (10 hours)       Category: Empennage

Page 9-9 Step 8, 9-10 Steps 1-7, 9-11 Steps 1-2. Finished scuffing skins for Foam Ribs. Didn't Prime. Riveted Tip Ribs and Counterbalance Skin. Riveted Hinge Reinforcement Plates. Riveted Root ribs and Front Spar. Installed snap bushing. Riveted Elevator Horns to Front spar. Riveted nutplates in Reinforcement Plates and back riveted reinforcement plates to skins.

  Jun 22, 2021     Day 65 - Elevator - (10 hours)       Category: Empennage

Page 9-8 Steps 2-4, 9-9 Steps 1-8. Countersunk holes for tab hinge. Dimpled remaining front and rear spar flanges. Dimpled the Root Rib flanges and checked for correct angle. Dimpled Shear clips and Rib flanges. Dimpled outboard Tip Ribs. Used hand bender to put small bend in trailing edge of skins. Countersunk Trailing edge wedge. Masked off and stuffed areas for foam ribs on trailing edge of skins.

  Jun 21, 2021     Day 64 - Elevator - (5 hours)       Category: Empennage

Page 9-7 Steps 7-9, Page 9-8 Step 1.

  Jun 17, 2021     Day 63 - Elevator - (1 hour) Category: Empennage

Page 9-7 Step 7. Disassembled both elevators.

  Jun 16, 2021     Day 62 - Elevator - (6 hours)       Category: Empennage

Page 9-7 Steps 4-6. Drilled holes in steel Trim Cable Anchor Brackets. Use slow bit speeds. Dimpled and attached nutplate hardware for Cover Plate.

  Jun 15, 2021     Day 61 - Elevator - (4 hours) Category: Empennage

Page 9-7 Step 3. Final Drilled skins and structure including trailing edge wedge.

  Jun 13, 2021     Day 60 - Elevator - (5 hours) Category: Empennage

Page 9-6 Step 8, 9-7 Steps 1-2. Trimmed Trailing Edge Wedge. Match Drilled top and bottom close out tabs with shear clip. Clecoed Elevator Horns to Elevators.

  Jun 12, 2021     Day 59 - Elevator - (5 hours) Category: Empennage

Page 9-6 Steps 3-7. Clecoed and final drilled Elevator Gusset to Root Rib and Rear Spar. Clecoed and final drilled Tip Rib Assembly. Clecoed Top Skin and skeleton with shear clip.

  Jun 11, 2021     Day 58 - Elevator - (5 hours) Category: Empennage

Page 9-6 Steps 1-2. Clecoed and final drilled Trim Access Reinforcement Plate to bottom skins.

  Jun 10, 2021     Day 57 - Elevator - (10 hours)       Category: Empennage

Page 9-4 Step 3, 9-5 Steps 1-4. Clecoed and final drilled Front Spar, Rear Spar, and ribs to bottom skin. Clecoed shear clip on rear spar.

  Jun 09, 2021     Day 56 - Elevator - (7 hours)       Category: Empennage

Page 9-2 Steps 3, 5-6, 9-3 Steps 1-3, 9-4 Steps 1-2. Finished clecoing ribs, Straightened and final drilled Tip Rib. Bent close out tab. That worked best by hitting a block of wood at seam instead of hitting seam with rivet gun on low. Clecoed and final drilled Hinge Reinforcement plates and used step drill for Trim Cable routing hole.

  Jun 08, 2021     Day 55 - Elevator - Deburring - (5 hours)       Category: Empennage

Page 9-2 Step 2. Finished Deburring Elevator parts!

  Jun 07, 2021     Day 54 - Elevator - Ribs - (3 hours)       Category: Empennage

Page 9-2 Step 2 & 3. Continued deburring Elevator parts including the skins and started clecoing Rib Halves together.

  Jun 06, 2021     Day 53 - Horizontal Stab - Rivet Rear Spar - Finished! - (5 hours)       Category: Empennage

Page 8-13 Step 6 & 7. Finished riveting the rear spar to ribs and skins!
Page 9-2 Step 2. Started back in on deburring of Elevator skins and ribs.

  Jun 05, 2021     Day 52 - Horizontal Stab - Rivet Rear Spar - (4 hours) Category: Empennage

Page 8-13 Step 6 & 7. Rivet rear spar to ribs and skins. Didn't finish.

  May 23, 2021     Day 51 - Horizontal Stab - Rivet Skins to Ribs - (7 hours)       Category: Empennage

Page 8-13 Step 5. Riveting skins to the remaining ribs

  May 22, 2021     Day 50 - Horizontal Stab - Rivet stringers - (2 hours)       Category: Empennage

Page 8-13 Step 4. Finished riveting stringers today. Realized that we didn't countersink stringers sufficiently or check them for proper depth. Skin wouldn't sit completely flat against stringer in some countersink holes even with significant pressure before riveting.

  May 21, 2021     Day 49 - Horizontal Stab - Rivet Stringers - (3 hours)       Category: Empennage

Page 8-13 Step 4. Riveting Skin to Stringers. Easy going for aft stringer holes, but really hard for the forward holes. The stringer completely blocks any chance of seeing the tail of the rivet. Difficult to check worked rivet also. I found it easiest to hold the rivet gauge with one hand thru a lightening hole and use the other hand to press the gauge on rivet head. Had to remove plastic grommet from forward spar to get bucking bar in position. Then reinsert after rivets installed.

  May 20, 2021     Day 48 - Horizontal Stab - Rivet inspar ribs - (8 hours)       Category: Empennage

Page 8-13 Step 3. Riveted ribs from Front Spar to Stringers. Hard to position bucking bar on tail of rivet when you can't see it! The space for your hands gets small in the bays close to the center due to stringers.

  May 18, 2021     Day 47 - Horizontal Stab - Riveting Spar - (10 hours)       Category: Empennage

Page 8-13 step 2. Riveted skin to front Spar flanges. Started bracing stab by stuffing rags in-between stab and cradle. Gives some flexibility to move but reduces flopping around when riveting.

  May 17, 2021     Day 46 - Horizontal Stab - Riveting Nose & Inspar Ribs - (14 hours)       Category: Empennage

Page 8-12 Steps 1 & 2. Page 8-13 Step 1. Finished riveting Nose ribs to skins from previous day. Really a 2 person job. Hard to reach both front and back simultaneously. Inserted Front spar assembly and riveted. We decided to delay riveting inner ribs per instructions. Riveted the last 2 Inspar ribs on each side.

  Apr 17, 2021     Day 45- Horizontal Stab - riveting nose ribs and jig - (5 hours)       Category: Empennage

Page 8-12 step 1. Clecoed nose ribs into both skins and started riveting. The skins don't want to sit flush against nose rib after the top hole due to skin tension pulling outward. Decided taping ends would help. Also used cleco clamps to hold ribs tight against the skin. Works well for end ribs. Inner ribs still have problems keeping them tight. So I made a jig to keep skin tight around ribs.

  Apr 16, 2021     Day 44 - Horizontal Stab - Priming and riveting - (6 hours)       Category: Empennage

Pages 8-9/10/11. Primed spars mostly because of concern that I scotchbrighted thru the Alclad layer buffing some scratching out. Clecoed stringers, webbing, and in-spar ribs to forward spar. Riveting them together. Head of 4 rivets are too close to spar doubler tips to use squeezer cup set. Had to use gun and bar to set

  Apr 15, 2021     Day 43 - Horizontal Stab - Dimple and Countersink - (10 hours)       Category: Empennage

Page 8-9 steps 7-8. Dimpled skins and rib flanges. I used the substructure dimpler for ribs. Countersink flanges in spars and stiffeners. I got some shavings from countersink bit in the slot between spar and doubler. I decided on second spar to tape gap while countersinking. End holes of spar get a little deeper countersink if you aren't careful to hold up drill on unsupported end perpendicular to surface.

  Apr 14, 2021     Day 42 - Horizontal Stab - Deburring - (10 hours)       Category: Empennage

Page 8-9 Step 6. Finished deburring! It's really hard getting all the inner flange holes deburred by hand. Sped things up by using an extension on our electric debur tool. It gets the bit nearly 90degrees to the surface and does an adequate job of cleaning hole edges. It doesn't look like much but the picture is of all the parts completely deburred and ready for dimpling! What a job!

  Apr 06, 2021     Day 41 - Horizontal Stab - Drill skin - (8 hours)       Category: Empennage

Page 8-9 steps 4-5. Final drilled skins to skeleton and marked fairing screw holes. Marked parts and disassembled. Began Deburring.

  Apr 05, 2021     Day 40 - Horizontal Stab - Clecoing back half of stab - (2 hours) Category: Empennage

Page 8-9 Steps 1-4. The HS-1004 arrived and it was drilled and deburred. Installed on forward spar. Moving on with assembly, we Clecoed stringers together and installed with web and final drilled. Clecoed rear spar to inspar ribs and clecoed skins to skeleton.

  Apr 02, 2021     Day 39 - Elevator - Finish Deburring Ribs - (6 hours) Category: Empennage

Page 9-2 Step 1 & 7. Finished deburring E-1008 Ribs and cut E-1022 Shear clips out, final drilled and deburred.

  Mar 11, 2021     Day 20 - Rudder - Prepping parts for final assembly - (11 hours)       Category: Empennage

Today we prepped all the skins and trailing edges. We marked the skins left and right with the perception of looking from the back towards what will be the front of the plane with the rudder attached. We deburred the holes in the skin and then dimpled them, make sure you dimple the right side that corresponds to the skin you are working with so you don't dimple the two skins the same way. We also worked on machine countersinking the trailing edge (TE). for consistency we used a drill press to do this as you need to machine countersink perpendicular to the face of the TE wedge. we layered the two TE wedges we were given on top of each other to make the wedge's face level to the drill press. After finishing the TE wedge we used an aluminum angle beam to use as a way to hold the TE straight when applying tank sealant later on. This took two tries as the TE wasn't straight and some warping of the holes we drilled took place. A second try was necessary and came out great.

  Mar 12, 2021     Day 21 - Rudder - Riveting of Rudder parts - (9 hours)       Category: Empennage

Today we started back riveting the stiffeners onto the skins. This was fairly easy and painless since there is nothing obstructing access to the rivet holes. Once all the stiffeners are riveted onto the skins the two halves of the top rib must be done as well. You must leave the front three holes of each rib un riveted for access to put in the lead counterweight near the end of the assembly. Once those pieces are done we moved onto the spar, you must rivet on the reinforcement plates at the mid and top of the spar along with a nut plate on each one. using a squeezer is by far the easiest way to rivet these on.

  Mar 13, 2021     Day 22 - Rudder - Rudder stiffener shear clips - (2 hours)       Category: Empennage

Today I put on the shear clips to the left side skin. The will be used to join the two skins together with pop rivets in the next step. I didn't have a lot of trouble although We forgot in the deburring process to drill the shear clip holes to final size so initially I was having trouble getting pop rivets into the holes. After I drilled them out and deburred again they fit in nicely and using the pneumatic pop rivet gun was super easy. The only thing that was annoying/frustrating is the stiffeners are quite close together so getting the pop rivet gun in between to set the rivets was a little challenging but bending the skins isn't bas since they are so thin so that helped. The trickiest bit of what we did today was the bottom rib. If you are looking into or are building an Van's aircraft you will probably know "plane Lady" on Youtube. If not definitely watch her videos along with "Jason Eliis". They make great videos about building their RV-10's and talk about aviation concepts and topics. I digress, Plane lady has a video talking about how much trouble they had with the bottom rib of the Rudder. We followed her suggestions and it got us by fairly well. This is what we did. The bottom rib is comprised of two halves along with the rudder control horn on the top of the rib. being a control surface, the rib tapers off at the end and becomes narrow. What we did is we assembled the bottom rib partially as to allow us to bend the halves apart enough to initially rivet it to the right side skin. The horn is fixed to the rib via three holes on either side of the rib riveting those is necessary, Down the right side of the rib are a couple of #30 holes not including the holes for the horn. Rivet the one closest to the horn and stop there until you have riveted the right skin on.

  Mar 16, 2021     Day 23 - Rudder - Joining the skins together and setting to dry - (4 hours)       Category: Empennage

Today we joined the two skins together with tank sealant. We used gloves to apply the sealant along with a popsicle stick. The sealant is much thicker than we thought it would be so expect it to take at least 15-20 minutes to apply on both sides of the Trailing edge (TE). Once applied we put the other skin on top of it making sure the horn goes through the available opening in the skin. The assembly of the skins require the stiffeners be a certain way. The way the stiffeners are assembled is the tapered end on the left side sits over the right side's tapered end while both stiffeners sit under the shear clip. Clecoing the skin to the bottom rib and the last TE hole allows you to align the stiffeners easier initially. as we pop riveted the stiffeners we clecoed up the TE to keep it tight and from moving on the sealant. When you get to the shortest stiffener at the top, the space to work with is too small and you can't get the pop rivet gun in there. WE reasoned that the stiffeners were so thin that we could invert the direction of the pop rivet and set them that way. We consulted our A&P and he said it was totally fine. putting the last pop rivets upside down makes it much easier. The last step is to make sure the thin half of the top rib is over/on top of the larger half. We cleaned the cleco holes in the TE after we had put the skins together just to make sure the sealant didn't dry in the holes and obstruct rivets when we rivet the TE together. We put on our angle to keep the TE as straight as possible. We found that with the angle in place, the gap between the skins at the very TE was larger than just having it clecoed without the angle and it was still straight. Our A&P and the instructions said two days is a good amount in temperatures of 70 ish degrees for the sealant to cure.

  Mar 18, 2021     Day 25 - Rudder - - (9 hours)       Category: Empennage

Today we went ahead and attached the spar to the Rudder. pop riveting the spar to the shear clips connected to the stiffeners. Next we riveted the bottom rib assembly to completion with its striker plates. After pop riveting and squeezing the rivets in to the bottom rib we had to finish the top rib. Using panhead rivets you can squeeze the front three in the top rib and then you'll have to hand rivet the rest including the two holes that connect the top rib to the spar. On the inside of the rudder at the top rib you have two holes you will need to pop rivet. After finishing the top rib you start to fix the skin to the spar, its an easy enough step just have to not rivet the two holes ( one for either side) associated with the bottom counterbalance rib which connects to the spar. A squeezer is the best way to go for the riveting of the skin. After that you need to pop rivet the bottom counterbalance rib onto the spar and then rivet the holes left open in the previous step. Then just rivet the rib in place on the skin again leaving the front three holes open for the counterbalance weight attachment.

  Mar 19, 2021     Day 26 - Rudder - Trailing Edge and Rolling LE - (4 hours)       Category: Empennage

On plan page 7-11 step 1. I riveted TE using the Double-Flush riveting. I had bought a special wedge rivet set from Cleaveland Tools and didn't use the back rivet technique described in this step. We had also received advice that there was a potential for the TE to become bowed if we set all the rivets from one side. We. therefore, alternated the side the manufactured head was on. We didn't have any change in how straight the TE was. I then started bending the LE of the rudder skins using a long wooden dowel. The plans call for a pipe of 1.25" diameter, but our dowel was approximately 1" and still worked well. I did need to use my hands to get a little more bend of the skins near the spar especially when we got to the bottom near the horn. The radius of the bend changes as you move lower on the leading edge. I was careful not to put a crease line in the skins at the spar line. We took Plane Lady's advice and used the edge bending tool on the skins BEFORE starting the bending with the dowel. I think that worked out much better than the instructions.

  Mar 20, 2021     Day 27 - Rudder - Rolling LE & Attach counterbalance - (12 hours)       Category: Empennage

Plans page 7-11/12. We finished bending the leading edge and blind riveted the two halves together. Got some help from Brock with this. Bent the skins around the corner of a sanded wooden block to form a nice edge and located and drilled screw holes in rib flange and skins. Then dimpled the skins and countersunk the lead weight. The plans don't explain the details of how to attach the nutplates to receive the AN426 rivets strangely enough. From previous projects we knew to dimple the flanges and nutplate ears for the nutplate rivets. We then secured the skins and the weight with the two screws but didn't tighten them completely. We didn't see any pillowing of the skins so skipped step 4. We then riveted remaining skin holes to ribs. Unfortunately, as we tightened the screws completely we saw the skins pillow! So, we had to go back to step 4 to insert a blind rivet in-between the screws. Then due to an error in calculation we drilled a hole for the rivet that wasn't actually in the middle of the screws. We were able to remove the weight and finish drilling out the hole in the new location and reassemble. Then inserting the blind rivet pulled skins together nicely without any pillowing. Rudder Complete!

  Mar 22, 2021     Day 29 - Horizontal Stabilizer - Inboard hinge bracket assembly and attachment - (3 hours)       Category: Empennage

Today we assembled the hinge bracket for the bearing and attached it to the spar. You want to take a scotch bright pad and roughen the glossy white coating on the brackets. then cleco the assembly together and match drill and deburr. We riveted together using an alternating pattern thought it might help its rigidity/ sturdiness. Attaching the assembly to the spar is easy but make sure you tighten the screws to the torque. Began cutting Front Spar Attachment Bracket HS-1008-L/R and deburing

  Mar 31, 2021     Day 38 - Elevator - Deburring Elevator Ribs - (7 hours) Category: Empennage

Page 9-2. Deburred parts while we wait for a replacement HS-1004 Inspar Rib. Deburred the HS-1016 Stringer Web, but mostly deburred the E-1008 A/B halves we cut yesterday.

  Mar 23, 2021     Day 30 - Empennage - Spar Attachment Brackets - (12 hours)       Category: Empennage

Page 8-3/5. Finished drilling precise holes in the Spar Attachment Bracket and deburred parts. Cut spar caps and stringers. Deburred rough edges of spar caps and stringers. Deburred lightening holes and edges on front spar.

  Mar 24, 2021     Day 31 - Horizontal Stabilizer - Front Spar - (14 hours)       Category: Empennage

Page 8-5. Centered spar caps on front spar and clamped. Drilled holes thru web and deburred. Drilled flange holes and started deburring when I realized I was going to still match drill and didn't need to debur. Clecoed the Front Spar Attachment Brackets and drilled the 8 additional holes. Thick material makes this more difficult. Machine CSK the center holes in the doubler and the 9 holes of the spar flanges. Disassembled and deburred then reassembled. Started cutting on the 4 inspar ribs that require modification.

  Mar 25, 2021     Day 32 - Horizontal Stab - Riveting Front Spar - (8 hours)       Category: Empennage

Page 8-6/7. Rivet the Front spar, spar doubler, spar caps, and spar attachment brackets. Unfortunately, our squeezer couldn't handle this. The first rivet started bending over and I had to drill it out. Being such a long rivet AD4-10 required that I drill halfway thru rivet shaft with the drill press with a #35 in order to remove rivet. Just taking the head off still leaves a lot of rivet still in the hole. Tried using the DRDT2, but learned it doesn't have the pressure required to set rivets well. Used a friends C frame with my rivet gun on top and a cup set on the bottom. Worked great. Squeezer handled all the other rivets that were smaller like in the spar flange. Deburred the Inspar Ribs from the previous day. There are more ribs to debur than just the 4 that you cut. Found one of the inspar ribs had been damaged in shipment. Something had impacted the flanges from the inside and dented them out. I called tech support and although I may have been able to pound out some of the dents in the flanges, the web to flange radius would've been difficult and I didn't want a bump pushing into the skins on assembly. We have a new part coming to replace it.

  Mar 26, 2021     Day 33 - Horizontal Stab - Inspar Ribs - (4 hours) Category: Empennage

Page 8-7. Spent most of the time deburring inspar ribs. Bent flanges to the requisite 9 degrees. I printed a 9 degree angle on paper. I then used it to cut a wedge of cardboard. I then bent flanges and compared to cardboard wedge. Tech help was useful in getting a replacement inspar rib shipped and also commented that the 9 degrees wasn't precise. It gets the part close enough to cleco into position.

  Mar 27, 2021     Day 34 - Horizontal Stab - Nose Ribs - (6 hours)       Category: Empennage

Page 8-7. Cut tips off flange of nose ribs with band saw. Then, radiused the tip and deburred holes and edges. Used my 9 degree cardboard wedge to estimate bend angle for 2 of the nose ribs. Put together soft cradles to hold the horizontal stab skins as described in videos by Jason Ellis and Plane Lady. Used 2X3 and 2X4. approximately 9 inches long. Cut some old fabric into 1.5" wide strips. and stapled them to U shaped frame.

  Mar 28, 2021     Day 35 - Horizontal Stab - Cleco Forward spar ribs - (9 hours)       Category: Empennage

Page 8-8. Clecoed Inspar ribs and nose ribs to front spar assembly (except one still waiting to arrive). Match drilled all the ribs and labelled them.

  Mar 29, 2021     Day 36 - Horizontal Stab - Prep Skin for skeleton - (10 hours)       Category: Empennage

Page 8-8. The instructions don't tell you, but I realized that there's another set of inspar ribs (HS-904) that need to be peeled and deburred. I finished clecoing these outer inspar ribs to spar and match drilled all of them. Got out the skins and deburred them. Placed them into the cradles.

  Mar 30, 2021     Day 37 - Horizontal Stab - Cleco Nose ribs - (2 hours)       Category: Empennage

Page 8-8 and 9-2. Numbered and removed nose ribs from spar and clecoed into the skins. Waiting to go any further until we receive replacement HS-1004 rib to match drill. Began separating E-1008 Elevator Ribs.

  Mar 21, 2021     Day 28 - Horizontal Stab. - Attaching Doubler and Hinges - (9 hours)       Category: Empennage

Plan page 8-2. Cleckoed Elevator hinges and Doubler to rear spar and match drilled/deburred. Scuffed powder coated hinges for painting at completion. When match drilling Doubler two of the holes need to be countersunk. I went too deep on the right one. To fix I cut the head off an #4 rivet and taped it to the head of the #4-6 rivet to make up the .01" depth I was missing. It worked, but because the cut wasn't completely flat and had extra material in the center of the shaft it caused more pressure to be applied to the middle of my rivet. That caused it to concave the head of the rivet I was setting. I decided it would be better to leave than to drill out and start over. Riveted the rest of the doubler and elevator hinges with panheads. Cleaned up marker notes afterward. UPDATE: My OCD wouldn't allow me to leave the poorly squeezed rivet. I drilled out carefully and managed to set much better on the second try.

  Mar 17, 2021     Day 24 - Horizontal Stabilizer - Deburring spar and doubler - (2 hours)       Category: Empennage

We took the Horizontal Stabilizer Spar and doubler and started to deburr them. This takes some time since the HS is so large. We use a file to file off the bumps on the rough side of the spar and use the edge deburring tool along with a dremel to do the lightening holes.

  Nov 01, 2020     Day 3: vertical stab spar and skeleton - (5 hours)       Category: Empennage

Today we worked on machine countersinking holes on the VS spar below the upper attach bolt holes. Once we dialed the countersink setting in doing them was no problem. The instructions say to not countersink the #30 holes directly above the lower rudder hinge bracket and to do the lower rudder hinge bracket holes in #19 which there are four of. After finishing step 8 of the VS spar we started the skeleton of the VS. this was the most time consuming process as we had to debur all the edges of each piece. The deburing section talks about many requirements and standards for deburing which need to be followed as closely as possible. After deburing we fluted the ribs for the VS as some of them were slightly bent. For being our first time it was easy to understand and get the hang of quickly. After that, we assembled the skeleton with clecos to look at the form of the VS.

  Nov 24, 2020     Day 19 - Rudder - Cleco skin to skeleton - (10 hours)       Category: Empennage

Today we got the skins out in order to deburr the edges. This takes some time but necessary at the end as they will be sharp and exposed. Using a Dremel you can get into the small corners and the area the rudder horn comes through the skin. After all the edges were smooth we clecoed one of them to one side. the end of the stiffeners are thin enough that a cleco will go through the skin and both sides of the stiffener assembly pulling the two sides together, just be careful of that. The trailing edge needs to be clecoed on to the skin and the pieces that are longer than the skin need to be marked and removed. You should end up with the trailing edge piece flush with the edge of the skin as closely as possible. The instructions say that you should then cleco the other skin on and make sure that all the holes in the trailing edge and spar are filled with clecos. We alternated sides with the clecos in the trailing edge so we can lay the rudder on either side with no problem.

  Nov 24, 2020     Day 18 - Rudder - Assembly of skeleton and matchdrilling - (6 hours)       Category: Empennage

We finally got to assembling the main skeleton after we had clecoed the stiffeners and shear plates to each other. Countersinking of the striker plates for the bottom rib was done to finish the bottom up. In the previous day summary I had said the orientation of the striker plates is important, because if you countersink both parts on the same side you will have two exact parts and you need mirror opposites of each other, so PAY ATTENTION. The holes were match dilled in both the stiffener/shear clip assembly, and the main skeleton. The counterbalance rib on the top was also clecoed on. Super simple assembly of all the parts and standard drilling. Starting to look like a rudder!

  Nov 22, 2020     Day 17 - Rudder - Stiffener cutting and deburring of parts - (7 hours)       Category: Empennage

Today we went through and cut all the stiffeners to the correct length and deburred all the parts that are associated with the rudder horn. We took a fine tooth file and our scotchbrite wheel to buff the edges off of the very thick rudder horn and used a Dremel for the finer areas. We also were match drilling the bottom rib to the rudder piece to prep the cleocing of the rudder horn assembly piece together. Tedious work but we made sure it all looked good. The Rudder spar must also be deburred which takes a long time because of the size of the piece and all the lightening holes that are in it.

  Nov 21, 2020     Day 15 - Vertical Stabilizer - Finishing everything up! - (12 hours)       Category: Empennage

Today is the day we finished everything up! We started from where we left off and started to rivet the middle inspar rib on both side, easy enough flat surface and lots of stuff to maneuver your hand. We then finished the top rib and since it was on the edge we were able to use the pneumatic squeezer so the rivets are consistent. We then were able to re-cleco the bottom inspar rib into place and rivet it to the spars. This proved more difficult than all the other riveting as our gun was not able to get into the area to drive them, specifically in the front spar, so we used a double offset head in order to get to them. The rear spar rivets are able to be squeezed but we had to uncleco the corner of the skin because it was impacting the squeezer. After we squeezed them we reclecoed and continued. the rear spar was also easy because you can squeeze them as well. We used clamps to make sure whatever gap was there was pulled tight while we squeezed. Once the skin is done you are able to attach the rear rudder hinge bracket at the bottom to the spar. really easy stuff and then you have a completed Vertical Stabilizer! On to the the Rudder!

  Nov 19, 2020     Day 14 - Vertical Stabilizer - Riveting front spar to skin - (7 hours)       Category: Empennage

Today we started with the front spar riveting. Pretty simple stuff, nice flat surface to rivet on. since you have to reach under the back side of the VS two people is ideal, one to drive the rivet, and the other to hold the bucking bar and measure the quality of the rivet. The biggest draw back is having to set the whole assembly on clecos which aren't the most stable supports.

  Nov 13, 2020     Day 12 - Vertical Stabilizer - Riveting the skin - (10 hours)       Category: Empennage

The day has finally come to start riveting the skin to the skeleton permanently. We started by clecoing all the pieces to the skeleton while removing the bottom nose rib for access to the middle nose rib. We found that having two people for the riveting of the nose rib was easiest because of how far under the skin the rib is. One person drives the rivet, while the other holds the bucking bar and measures the rivet for quality. We were warned about not deburring the nose rib enough near the leading edge and we thought we had gotten it taken care of however we still ran into the problem. If you do not remove enough material off the nose rib the skin will have a dent/warp where the rib impacts the skin after riveting. We also seemed to have a bent flange on the nose rib so it didn't meet flush with the skin. In one of the pictures you see our solution where we wedged a paint stick into it to push it up against the skin where we then riveted into place. after that the rest of it came very easy as they were near edges where the pneumatic squeezer can be used. Our rivets came out better after probably 5 or 7 rivets as we found what worked and what didn't.

  Nov 11, 2020     Day 11 - Vertical Stabilizer - Riveting skeleton and mounting skin - (14 hours)       Category: Empennage

Today we finished riveting the rear spar of the VS together with both the flush rivets and panhead rivets. The panhead rivets that go through the doubler have a length of 7 and we were concerned that our pneumatic squeezer yolk wasn't gonna have an open enough driver for it so we did one to make sure and it was just enough to do them so after that we had no trouble with the other ones. The flush rivets came out nicely and so did the pan heads once everything was done, we had no problems with the shop heads expanding and being at the right height. After that it was onto the skeleton which we clecoed together. The manual says to cleco the entire skeleton together and to rivet the end cap rib and the middle inspar ribs together but not the bottom as those will give you access to the interior while riveting the skin on. We used the pneumatic squeezer for most of them other than the inspar ribs as the holes in the ribs have a slight inward bend to them which blocked our yolk from reaching the rivet. We used for those holes a double off set rivet head and manually did it. The rivets came out ok as we were taking our time but the nose rib pulled away from the front spar a bit after the rivets were set. We deemed the amount it pulled away fine and not worth drilling out and trying again as to not enlarge the hole with another set of rivets. After the skeleton was set and the bottom ribs were left clecoed we move on to mounting the skin. The only problem we found with the skin is that there is a bit of tension in the skin and how we clecoed it. We reasoned that the specific manner and order in which it says to rivet the skin will remove the tension in the skin.

  Nov 11, 2020     Day 10 - Vertical Stabilizer - Riveting together the rear spar assembly - (2 hours)       Category: Empennage

We finally got to riveting together the pieces we have been prepping for so long. We first married the front spar doubler and front spar together. Since the holes that needed to be done were so close to the edge we used the pneumatic squeezer. We wanted to make sure the pieces didn't separate during the squeezing process so we used clamps. They all went in fine with no problems. After that it was on to the top hinge bracket and doubler of the rear spar. MAKE SURE TO RIVET THE INNER TWO HOLES BETWEEN THE HINGES BRACKETS, if you do the hinges before these two holes you will not be able to access them. The space between the two hinge brackets is so tight you wont be able to get anything in there to buck or squeeze it. We found that for both the top and middle hinge brackets that the inner hole near the corner is the hardest as the pneumatic squeezer impacts with the bracket itself. It is possible you just have to get it as close as possible and play around with it. All of the rivets came out correct with no major issues.

  Nov 08, 2020     Day 8 - Vertical Stabilizer - (10 hours)       Category: Empennage

Dimpled upper part of rear spar flange, forward spar flange, lower forward spar, and countersunk forward spar doubler. Deburred all parts. Used vice to hold p. Squeezer for dimpling. Seems to work well.

  Nov 04, 2020     Day 6 - Vertical Stabilizer - Dimpling Ribs - (2 hours)       Category: Empennage

Today we were able to get and finish the 4 holes in the skin near the leading edge. While dimpling the close leading edge holes in the skin, the dies were not square with the skin so one of the holes has a bit of a warp/dent next to the hole. We contacted a friend who has built an RV-7 and he says it will not be noticeable once painted and corrected. We then started on dimpling the ribs so they sit flush with the skin when riveted. We have sub structure dies from Cleveland aircraft tool co. for dimpling, They provide just enough space to make sure surface dimples sit flush with the material underneath the skin. Make sure that you do not dimple the marked holes for the fairing screws at the bottom of the VS skin (we just took a fine point sharpie and marked all holes that we don't dimple). We used the sub structure dies on all the rib holes and small tab holes that fit under the front spar flange. with a pneumatic squeezer you can make quick work of all the holes.

  Nov 02, 2020     Day 4 - Vertical stabilizer - skin match drilling - (11 hours)       Category: Empennage

We finally got to the VS skin being added to the equation. First we match drilled the ribs and front spar of the skeleton and kept them clecoed together. The next step was to fit the skin to the skeleton for match drilling. This was a little more complicated than it initially sounded. We first clecoed one side without any problems, the other side however was a different story. With the ribs being flexible without the skin as a supporting piece the holes didn't line up right away. We started from one corner and worked our way out using the limited clecoes we had. After a while of fitting clecoes to holes and getting them to line up we finally had the skin established on the skeleton and we from there went on to match drill with the #40 drill all skin holes except for the VS fairing screw holes at the top of the skin. Having two hands for the initial mounting of the skin is very useful since the ribs are flexible and not rigid without the skin and the skin of the VS is stiff and will stand up a bit which makes it hard to balance and handle. After match drilling the skin we removed it from the skeleton and started deburring. The inside holes of the ribs are hard to get to with our low speed screwdriver with debur bit so we had to use the debur tip of our edge finisher tool. The inside of the skin has holes near the leading edge which are hard to get to with the natural angle of the sheet of metal. I removed the debur bit and twisted it by hand making sure to keep it upright and not to take too much material off. With such thin skins taking too much material off can cause the hole to become enlargened and that can lead to problems while riveting and general structural integrity. These were time consuming steps just due to the sheer amount of holes we had to match drill and then debur but it came together nicely so who can complain?

  Oct 30, 2020     Day 2: Vertical Stabilizer cont. - (8 hours)       Category: Empennage

We were working on steps 3-6 we match drilled the spar doubler and hinges. One thing we found was that the hinge holes are a little smaller than our clecos. We were able to force them through the holes in order to match drill, after they are drilled they fit properly. The spar doubler was slightly bent so we put the concave side of the doubler against the spar and clecoed them together. The doubler laid flat after that. The top hinge bracket doubler after further inspection is actually oriented a certain way, there is a top that is more narrow and a bottom that is wider. Most of the time during these parts is deburring the parts and making things smooth as there are so many holes that have been drilled in the spar web and flanges and spar caps. not terribly complicated steps just make sure you are reading things correctly.

  Oct 29, 2020     Day 1: Vertical stabilizer spar beginning - (4 hours)       Category: Empennage

Today we trimmed the rear spar cap aluminum angles to their measurements and clamped them to the VS spar. Match drilling the holes from the spar webbing into the aluminum angles and then disassembling and deburring all the holes drilled. In order to hold the aluminum angles in place since there was no holes to cleco at first we used assorted clamps to keep pressure on both flanges of the angle as the angles them selves were bent/warped slightly. After being clamped we placed the whole assembly on wood "bricks" so that we didn't drill into our table and to allow us to get to the back of the spar while keeping the clamps in place.

  Nov 21, 2020     Day 16 - Rudder - (10 hours)       Category: Empennage

Cut rudder stiffeners. Clekoed rudder rib and matched drilled holes. Filed and deburred stiffeners and Rudder horn. Countersunk holes in rudder horn. One hole went too deep and will need to upsize to a number 5 rivet.

  Nov 15, 2020     Day 13 - Rudder - (4 hours)       Category: Empennage

Skipped to Rudder section 7 while JJ is away. Accomplished steps 1-3. Cutting out parts and deburring them. I'm using a file to get ride of the bumps. I use the hand deburring tool to take the edge off the straight sections then sand edge smooth with 400 grit sandpaper. Takes awhile, but leaves a nice edge.

  Nov 09, 2020     Day 9 - Vertical Stabilizer - Priming parts - (1 hour)       Category: Empennage

After prepping all the parts for riveting we decided to prime the parts after we had to buffer out a few scratches. The instruction manual mentions that buffing scratches removes the anti corrosion coating on the aluminum. We used dupli-colors self etching primer to coat and prime the parts it used about the whole can to give it a decent coating, however it was windy so some of it may have been carried off by the wind. Our mechanic friend says that you don not have to completely cover the aluminum shine and silver color but a decent powdering and cover of the parts will do the job on reducing possibility of corrosion. We also scuffed the coating on the hinge brackets as we plan to have them painted when the plane is finished. You will have to do some work on getting the adhesive and stickers off because they are the easily ripped paper stickers. WD-40 is a good adhesive remover if that's the way you go.

  Nov 07, 2020     Day 7 - Vertical Stab - (2 hours)       Category: Empennage

Countersink holes on rear spar flange that are common to spar caps and disassemble

  Nov 03, 2020     Day 5 - Vertical Stabilizer - Dimpling Skin - (1 hour)       Category: Empennage

Now that we had the holes deburred in the skeleton and the skin. We marked out the holes that were going to be used for the fairing screws in the bottom of the skin and the top for the VS cap. These holes needed to be marked so that you do not dimple them in the next step, the holes are also marked on the ribs and not just the skin. The dimpling was straight forward but not without its problems. Our DRDT2 dimple machine was able to get most of the holes. While the DRDT2 made quick work of the inner holes of the skin, the outer ones we used the pneumatic squeezer on because supporting the entire skin by hand while using the DRDT2 was more of a hassle. We did not complete the dimpling because of the inner holes near the leading edge. the angle of the leading edge was too tight for the DRDT 2 to get into and it was too far into the skin from any edge to reach. We will finish it with a manual pop rivet dimple set which will allow us to get into the leading edge area.

  Sep 10, 2020     Van's Light Box assembly       Category: Research

Assembled Light Box with Universal Pan Head Rivets on Faceplate, Screws on backplate, Poprivets on aft part of sides and flush rivets on forward part of sides. Replaced Vans LED strip with remote controlled color LED strip from Amazon.

  Sep 03, 2020     Finished Practice airfoil       Category: Research

This is a picture of our practice airfoil completed. It's also practice on how to use this log.