1/22/2021 – 0.1 hours
The first step of this section was an easy way to end the day. All I had to do was take the front spar off the shelf and orient the spar with the top flange facing up. After that, I retrieved two of the nose ribs, and cleco'd one to each end of the spar as shown in the plans.
1/23/2021 – 4.3 hours
With another nice day in store, I started by preparing the horizontal stabilizer skins for priming. I also took the opportunity to touch up some areas on the front and rear spars as well as some of the in-spar and nose ribs that had not been primed very well the first time around. After letting the parts dry for a few hours, I cleco'd all of the in-spar ribs and the stringer web assembly to the front spar. It was great to finally see all of the pieces starting to come together. I then riveted the in-spar ribs, except for the 2 inboard ribs, to the front spar. I started with the 3 outboard ribs on each side. They are attached with 3 rivets that I could access pretty easily with the 2 1/2" longeron yoke. I set the top and center rivets for each of the 6 ribs (3 outboard ribs on each side), and then flipped the assembly over to set the final rivet. I put the factory head of the rivets on the rib side since the ribs are made from much thinner material than the spar. I moved on to the next set of ribs, 2 on each side, that fit between the stringers in the stringer web assembly and are attached with 4 rivets. The 2 center rivets on each rib are the same length as the ones used for the other in-spar ribs, but the top and bottom rivets on these ribs are longer since they go through the spar caps as well as the spar. I set the two center rivets first on each rib, then set the top rivets, flipped the entire assembly over, and set the final rivet. At the end of this step the two outboard nose ribs, and the 10 outboard in-spar ribs were riveted to the front spar. The final two inboard ribs get riveted later since they share common rivets with the nose ribs.
[Grey Scotch Brite Pad, Bon Ami Cleanser, Dupli-Color Self-Etching Automotive Primer (Green – Rattle Can),Pneumatic Squeezer with 2 1/2" Longeron Yoke, 1/8” Cupped Squeezer Set, and 1/4" Flat Squeezer Set]