Nov 09, 2021     Rolled LE and FINISH - (5 hours)       Category: Empennage

Leading edges were rolled ( what a complete pain in the a$$, if I never have to roll another leading edge it will be too soon) I made a rolling tool I saw on VAF. It worked really well except I think the pipe was too big, I'm not sure why they used this size, but I would change the OD to 3/4” or a touch less next time. The rod end bearings were installed to the prescribed depth and the elevators were hung. WOW, it legitimately looks and acts like an airplane piece. Unbelievably the elevators balanced pretty much spot on. I did have a slight rub on the inboard side of the elevator at the last degree or two up, which was pretty simple to fix with a little seamer bending. Well after a few months, it is complete except for the obvious fiberglass and drilling the horns, but that will be later. I have really enjoyed building so far and I am very excited to receive my wings but vans is way behind, so hopefully soon. I purposely drug my feet a little towards the end of the emp kit in hopes the wing kit would arrive, but it hasn't happened. So that's it until the wing kit arrives, hopefully in a month or two.

  Oct 29, 2021     Attached trim tab - (4 hours)       Category: Empennage

Attached trim tab to the elevator, drilled and riveted trim hinge. This was somewhat tricky, do make sure you use a straight edge (aluminum angle or similar) to align the TE of the elevator to the trim tab. Also the plans say to leave a minimum 3/32” gap between the inboard edge of the elevator and the outboard edge of the trim tab. To easily accomplish this I bought some cheap tile spacers. Make sure the gap is at 3/32 when the tab hinge is pushed as close as it will go( the slop in the hinge side to side) After completely attaching and riveting , everything moved freely and looked good to me.

  Oct 18, 2021     Trim tab assembly and rivet - (6 hours)       Category: Empennage

Assembling the trim tab went pretty smoothly, it was a bit of putting it together and seeing how to sequence the riveting so that it came out correctly and I was able to as many regular rivets as possible. I assume doing it this way, using the riblets, is a whole lot easier and less of a headache than trying to bend the tabs up and down in a slippery jig. I am happy with this and would not think about doing it again. The trim control horn had rivets that would go through the riblet as well so I to account for that. For the rivets I could not do with traditional rivets I used MK319-BS pops. I was able to get the squeezer equipped with the longeron yoke around the trim tab spar in order to rivet it to the bottom of the skin. I also affixed the tab to the elevator with the hinge as a test fit.

  Oct 12, 2021     Closing up the left elevator& beginning trim tab completion - (6 hours)       Category: Empennage

With the trailing edge bent correctly or as close to perfect as I could get them, it was time to rivet the left elevator together. This went pretty smoothly and easily as everything was reached with the squeezer. As before I had the FAA inspection Ferret check the work, which passed. Next was to move onto the trim tab which as you may have read earlier is going to go together a little bit different because of the riblets I fabricated. So I had to stray away from the assembly instructions for this part.

  Oct 06, 2021     Left elevator riblet and trim servo - (5.5 hours)       Category: Empennage

So that I don't have to worry about destroying my elevator or trim tab, I have chosen to fabricate riblets instead of attempting to bend the tabs. This went together fairly easily. It is a bit tight, so I'm sure I will be using MK319 rivets in a couple of the holes. All in all that location should be significantly stronger due to the riblet, not to mention easier. Lots of other builders have done this before me with lots of success. I also worked on drilling the trim servo to the cover plate, dimpling the holes etc. The front two holes (closest to the notch) had to be countersunk in order for those rivets not to interfere with the servo when installed. I decided to use the NAS rivets with the small head for those two rivets so that I didn't get a knife edge with the countersink. I also smashed those rivets just a smidge past “perfectly set” for clearance. Servo installed and nylon nuts tightened.

  Sep 25, 2021     Right elevator complete - (4 hours)       Category: Empennage

Right elevator completed. All rivets placed, everything was able to be squeezed except for the aforementioned 4, 426 rivets. Obviously ill have to roll the leading edge, install the control rods and do the fiberglass. Speaking off rolling the leading edge, I took a screen shot of a “tool” that was made and posted on VAF. I'm going to try it and see how it works.

  Sep 16, 2021     *****Right elevator flush rivets under horn******* - (1 hour)       Category: Empennage

I deviated from the plans here where they tell you to countersink E 702 spar for the flush head rivets that go under the elevator horn for the E709 rib. I even had a discussion with vans technical support and they agreed that dimpling these holes would be acceptable and he actually stated that it would be a better idea to dimple instead of removing material. I will say dimpling the 709 rib would have been almost impossible without the close quarters dimple die set that you use with a rivet puller. You will have to buck these rivets because a squeezer wouldn't fit into that curve. In the end it worked out well and I believe much better than the original instructions.

  Sep 06, 2021     Right elevator skeleton/end ribs - (3 hours)       Category: Empennage

I assembled the right elevator skeleton, including getting the E703-E704 connected and clecoed to the E713 skin. Boy, what a dooooosy getting the 713 holes to line up with the rib holes, this took way way longer than it should have. The 714 lead weight was drilled and countersunk. Skin final ream, debarred and dimpled.

  Sep 03, 2021     Bending the elevators - (1 hour)       Category: Empennage

Went to lowes and got the straightest 2x6x10 I could. Its nice that the price of lumbar has come down. I built the bending brake and bent the elevators so that there was no bulge or bow. I think I got them pretty close, but I will make finer adjustments once everything is clecos together. After reading some things on line, I went with an 1/8” dowel rod to get the appropriate radius. Seemed to work well. I didn't really have much of an issue bending the edges, they went pretty smoothly and easily.

  Aug 18, 2021     Elevator trim reinforcement plate - (1.5 hours)       Category: Empennage

The trim plate was final drilled to the skin. Plate nuts were riveted on. I deviated from the plans and went with a small countersink for NAS rivets with the smaller head instead of dimpling the reinforcement plate and plate nuts, which is light years easier.

  Aug 17, 2021     Elevator stiffeners - (6 hours)       Category: Empennage

Spent some time cutting, shaping, deburring all of the elevator stiffeners. Quite the task, but it went smoothly and was easy. I then fitted the stiffeners to the corresponding elevator and final drilled them.

  Aug 16, 2021     Rolling the rudder leading edge - (2 hours)       Category: Empennage

Started rolling the leading edge with a Libman broom handle. It was working well until I got several blisters on my hands. I was able to get all of one side and the top portion completely rolled before I had to leave it for a few days and let my hands heal. Ugh, this damn rudder….. on to the elevator until I can get back to this.

  Aug 10, 2021     Trailing edge time - (5 hours)       Category: Empennage

I started the trailing edge by taping the 3M tape to both sides of the wedge and leaving it to cure. I then followed the directions in section 5 and thankfully got it so the tape was stuck to both skins and the wedge. I then clecoed everything to a piece of aluminum angle that was previously drilled and let it set for about 4 days to cure (4 days because I had other things going on). I removed the angle, double flush riveted according to section 5 and using the angled dies from Cleveland for the pneumatic squeezer. Maybe not perfect but I think it will work. Onto the leading edge.

  Aug 04, 2021     Rudder skins on - (5 hours)       Category: Empennage

Time to rivet the skins to the spar and the skins to the counterbalance box. This went well. Although I forgot the top 3 (on each side) of the top of the spar before I blind riveted the top rib on. Grrr this rudder has been a total pain in the a$$ from the start, I will be happy when its over. After consulting with tech and double checking with them, they best plan was to drill out the LP4-3 and rivet those missing rivets . They were pretty tricky to get to to buck since I only have the 3” yoke, but came out very well. Time to rivet this thing up and be done with this part. On too the trailing edge riveting…… ohhhhhh boy I'm sure that will be a joy.

  Jul 30, 2021     Rivet the rudder skeleton time - (4 hours)       Category: Empennage

Not much to say here other than I riveted the rudder skeleton together. Some of the 470 rivets I had to use a mixture of the squeezer and bucking. The counter balance “box” was riveted and notches were cut in the lead weight to make room for the shop heads. The nut plate strip was riveted and it came out very nicely. I went down to lowes and bought a drimmel drill bit cutter to notch it out. Worked well. Maybe removed a touch too much, but it should be ok. ** After cutting this I stumbled upon a tip with these led weights I will be trying on the elevators. That is just to squash the lead into shape instead of removing material.

  Jul 25, 2021     New TE wedge in - (4 hours)       Category: Empennage

After a couple weeks waiting for this part to arrive, it was time to tackle this again. In order to do this right this time, I purchased the single flute countersink cutter from Cleveland tool and did an extensive amount of research and practice. I kind of did this in two parts. First I used the 3 flute cutter on one side of the wedge in the drill press running at 300 rpm. I then flipped the piece over in the jig and used the single flute cutter in order to avoid chatter. I also needed to have the cutter pilot up against one of the edges in the jig so that it would not wobble around. After very slow and methodical cutting, I was left with a piece that is cut clean and looks good. What a pain.

  Jul 15, 2021     The TE wedge…. - (2 hours)       Category: Empennage

So now it was time to countersink the dreaded trailing edge wedge. I did this using the jig I purchased from Cleveland tool. This did not turn out very well. I sent Vans tech a picture to make sure it was acceptable and it was not. So, I had to reorder my first part, a new trailing edge wedge. 50 bucks after the part and shipping, as well as a 2 week wait. Bummer! The issue was I may have went too deep as to try and have the skin lay flush against the wedge. Vans says this will result in a too deep countersink. They sent me a diagram to illustrate this. The other issue is the 3 flute countersink cutter chatters quite a bit when the material gets so thin.

  Jul 14, 2021     Rudder counterweight - (2 hours)       Category: Empennage

Now its time to drill the holes in the lead counterweight to final size as well as countersink them for the dimples from the bottom rib. The rib also as previously stated has to be dimpled for the bolts that hold the weight in the counterbalance box.

  Jul 12, 2021     Getting ready for the TE - (3.5 hours)       Category: Empennage

I bought a piece of aluminum angle to keep the TE nice and straight during the tape curing time. I've seen others have great results with this, so fingers crossed. Angle drilled and deburred. I also deburred the holes in the skins and primed the ribs for the rudder as well as the horn.

  Jul 10, 2021     Rudder ………….. - (3 hours)       Category: Empennage

Next I cut the excess material from the R710 rudder brace and cleaned it up. I also made the 918 fairing strips from the material provided. Both of these were pretty straight forward and easy to do. Just make sure you stay on the outside of that center hole in the 710. I can see riveting the piece in place is going to be quite the task. So I finally bought the longeron yoke, I know I'm going to need it anyway in the future.

  Jul 08, 2021     Beveled counterbalance skin - (2 hours)       Category: Empennage

Today I beveled the counterbalance skin as it was called out in the plans. I assume I did it correctly, it fits a little better when clecoed. I just used the 3m wheel on the bench grinder and lightly touched it. I also rounded the corners of the counterbalance ribs because I saw that this was a call out on the RV 14 plans using the same pieces, so I went with it.

  Jul 03, 2021     Rudder cont - (1.5 hours)       Category: Empennage

Skeleton clecoed together and skins placed on skeleton. Looks good.

  Jul 02, 2021     Began the rudder skeleton. - (5.5 hours)       Category: Empennage

Today I began putting the rudder skeleton together and assembling the counterbalance box. All edges have been softened and dressed. I had an official inspector check out my work… all passed ;)

  Jun 22, 2021     Rudder stiffeners complete - (6 hours)       Category: Empennage

Rudder stiffeners have been completed and riveted, they look good and my goodness I forgot how easy back riveting was. An enjoyable task.

  Jun 15, 2021     Beginning rudder - (3 hours)       Category: Empennage

Today I began the rudder and started splitting, marking and shortening the stiffeners. This was a very straightforward project and was nothing more than time consuming.

  Jun 11, 2021     Vertical stabilizer finished - (6 hours)       Category: Empennage

Today I spent most of the day riveting the skin on with a few breaks here and there. Everything went pretty smoothly. In the photos, you can see the tricks I use to stop scuffs and scratches. Before clecoing the skin on, I put double or triple blue painters tape on the spar with little pull tabs for easy removal later. This works great for me and protects the spar, plus the added benefit of friction for the bucking bar and its much easier to see the shop head of the rivet without being blinded by a flashlight reflection. Also , when shooting a rivet I put some blue painters tape over the manufactured head to keep the rivet secure, keep the rivet gun from wondering and scuffing the skin. This works fantastic and is light years easier than applying tape to the mushroom head. Cleaner too. Vertical stabilizer finished!!!! A picture of the vertical and horizontal together…. Hmm I think I may be building a plane….

  Jun 08, 2021     Vert ribs - (3 hours)       Category: Empennage

Riveted the ribs to the spar. The lower ribs were impossible to get at with a squeezer, no problem, I feel very confident in bucking rivets at this point and am quite comfortable with it. So I grabbed the double offset universal head and drove this rib rivets without any issue, with a couple minor scuffs, it worked out well.

  Jun 06, 2021     Vert spar - (3 hours)       Category: Empennage

Riveted the vert spar to the doubler and the horns to that assembly. This was done using the squeezer. The rivets called out in the plans were a bit too long according to my rivet gauge so I ground each rivet down a few thousandths to make sure they didn't bend over during squeezing. That took way more time that it should have but oh well, I didn't ruin the part. The black primer and aluminum are a nice contrast. The flush rivets look pretty decent. At this point I feel like I'm better at bucking than squeezing.

  Jun 05, 2021     VERT CONT - (3 hours)       Category: Empennage

A week away from the project, overtime and life got in the way, back to work.Countersinking and dimpling the spar was really a non event, pretty simple once everything is set right. I used the drill press to countersink. I decided to prime these parts black, because why not.

  May 28, 2021     Starting the Vertical Stabilizer - (5 hours)       Category: Empennage

On to the next part. The vertical stabilizer went together pretty easily and pretty quickly. Fit everything, final size, deburr edge. Finish etc.

  May 24, 2021     Finished the horizontal stabilizer!!! - (8 hours)       Category: Empennage

Today finished the horizontal. At this point I have become very comfortable bucking rivets and feel very confident in doing so. With only a couple drill outs needed, this came together pretty quickly. Whew what a lot of rivets. Before I learned a little trick(you'll see later on),you can see I scuffed the living sh!t out of the front spar. Should be ok, no real gouges, just ugly. In the same picture you can see the shop heads on the front spar rivets, not shabby. FINISHED! I was surprised at how heavy and sturdy this thing felt, great design. **One side note that I found helpful, I went off from the plans here and left the center rib out, I believe it was 708 while riveting the skin to the front spar. It gave me mounds more space to work with, worked great for me but YMMV.

  May 22, 2021     Front spar and left stabilizer - (8 hours)       Category: Empennage

Riveted the front spar together. This went together pretty easy except I had some minor rubbing on two rivets to the HS00005 rib. I emailed Vans and they said that it should not be an issue since everything it secured tight. I asked if. It would be acceptable to slightly file a bevel in the rivet shop heads and then apply some RTV just in case . They said that was ok and acceptable. So that is what I did. After that I dimpled the skins and attached the left skin. These were my first flush rivets bucked on the entire plane. They didn't come out too bad.

  May 19, 2021     No going back….. - (8 hours)       Category: Empennage

Today was the day I began riveting the horizontal stabilizer, starting with the rear spar and spar bars. It went together quite nicely with the pneumatic squeezer. The rivet call out seems a tiny bit short, but I was able to get them to squeeze to an appropriate size. There was an issue installing the outboard horns (413PP). The plans said that the rivets were a AN4704-5. Well I tried one and it gauged out too big by a small amount, so I tried to squeeze it anyway. Guess what happened….. Yep, it bent over. The proper size would definitely be a AN4704-4.5, but I didn't have any of those, so I had to grind down some 4-5`s to make it work. Check the picture out to see how they look with the 4.5ish. The other horns (412PP) went on without issue. The center bearing went on pretty easily, I torqued the nuts to 23-24 inch pounds per the table from vans. This does not feel like much at all, but I resisted the temptation to use more force, I placed torque seal on the nuts and called it a day.

  May 14, 2021     Dirty hands… - (13 hours)       Category: Empennage

On to scuffing the items I wanted to prime, as well as deburring, edge finishing all the pieces needed to assemble the horizontal stabilizers. I chose to selectively prime my pieces based on items I thought would need the most protection and the items I knew I could keep the Alclad intact, I left it alone, because alclad is superior. It's also helpful in weight savings and money savings. This took a couple days to complete fully, I scuffed ribs, used acetone for cleaning and then primed with SEM EZ Coat. The edges of the skin went really quickly using a vixen file and then a combination of the sauviv (sp?) edge tool and scotchbrite pad.

  May 12, 2021     New tool       Category: Empennage

Received a new tool to try. Called the EZ Burr. It's a cool concept, but I had mixed results. It worked for some holes, over chamfered some holes and didn't remove burrs on others. A great tool,for the impossible to reach inside holes, so not completely mad I purchased it.

  May 06, 2021     Hole enlarged/response - (1 hour)       Category: Empennage

So I received a response from VANS about the enlarged hole in 00005. They told me that I needed to fabricate a doubler in order to allow the rivet to have a nice round hole to go into. Easy enough! Picture with the red outline is edited from Vans.

  May 04, 2021     Drill HS00001/702/714/710 - (3 hours)       Category: Empennage

Now it was sadly disassemble all I had assembled in order to drill the remaining holes in the HS00001,702,714 and 710. I know some have had a tolerance issue with the match drilling into HS710, but I did not (thankfully) I think this may have been corrected on the newer kits with the additional holes provided in the HS00001 doublers. Pretty straight forward process without any real issues, just went slow. Now onto deburring , edge finishing and priming a couple things before riveting.

  Apr 30, 2021     VA146 bearing - (3 hours)       Category: Empennage

My VA146 bearing that was back ordered finally arrived, so I fitted it to the rear spar with bpp411 and app411. Match drilled the holes, scuffed and primed the bearing. Finally got to try the SEM EZ Color primer. Turned out very nice. I then set my first rivets ever on 24JL. The plans/directions state that 4-5 rivets are indeed the correct size, although they looked and were too short, I went with Vans specific call out here assuming them had a reason to specifically say that 4-5 was the correct size. I have seen some use 4-6 with good results. They rivets did seem to squeeze a touch flat, but again, I assume there is a reason for this call out, nor have I seen a reported issue or SB for the 4-5 call out . So wth.

  Apr 28, 2021     HS00005&HS00006 - (12 hours)       Category: Empennage

Well it was time to drill some holes that I couldn't take back. I sort of went away from the plans here after several hours of thinking, looking and contemplating. I decided to fit HS6 and HS5 into the skin/skeleton structure, align it and clamp it very carefully until it was very tight where the ribs met HS710/714 and HS00001 doubler/702 spar. Thankfully I put center lines on the spar at an earlier stage, which made it quite easy to see it was aligned properly with the skin holes inboard of HS708. I then match drilled the holes in the aft flange of HS00005 to the rear spar, clecoed and re checked my clamps. Starting at the rear spar I match drilled the skin to the 00005 ribs, both top and bottom, I put a cleco in every hole. Once secure I did the same for HS00006. I then removed both ribs and carefully measured (like 15 times) the holes that needed to be drilled on the aft flange of HS00006 and only the top and bottom holes that needed drilled on the forward flange of HS00005. I drilled the at a #40 just in case there was an alignment issue later on when I upsized them to #30. I put the HS5&6 ribs back into the skin/skeleton, secured everything very tightly and match drilled the holes from the skin to the front spar. This worked out really really well, they were right down the center and had very acceptable edge distance at the taper. I clecoed every hole as I drilled, starting from HS708. I then clamped and drilled the flanges on HS00005 and 00006. They all turned out beautifully, except for a slight wallowing on the forward flange of HS00005 when I upsized the hole. I contacted VANS to see if this was going to be a problem, fingers crossed it wont be. I will update later with a response from them.

  Apr 27, 2021     First look at a stabilizer!! - (5 hours)       Category: Empennage

So today I assembled the Horizontal stabilizer skeleton and attached it to the skins. Holy sweet sh** what a freaking bear to bend the skin around the skeleton and get it attached with only 2 hands and 2 feet. I was finally able to get it to comply and conform with some sweat and duck tape. Really cool to finally see something that looks like a piece that can act appropriately in an air stream. (Left & Right noted in pictures) Next onto attaching/drilling HS 00005&00006

  Apr 22, 2021     Flange tool - (1 hour)       Category: Empennage

I was at Lowe's for some “honey do” things and decided to pick up a piece of hardwood and some metal to make a rib flange bender I had seen on other build logs and VAF. Turned our quite well, although I think it may bend a touch too much past 90 degrees, so I may need to sand it a touch. (Trust me, you will want to round the square edges of the handle)

  Apr 21, 2021     HS 714-710 bend& radius - (4 hours)       Category: Empennage

I measured, tapered and radius HS 710 & 714. I then bent the backwards sweep into each of them. The way I did it actually worked out really well. I used 2 scrap pieces of 2x4 in my vise, lined up the bend marks with the top of said 2x4, made sure it was level at 90 and used another scrap piece of 2x4 to apply pressure to the backside, which in turn bent it towards me. Slowly progressing the bend until it matched the bend in the already provide HS-00001 doublers. **See pictures**

  Apr 10, 2021     702 Cont       Category: Empennage

I then cut vertically down the flange on the bend line to meet the 1/4” hole that was drilled. After that vertical cut was made, I used a hand seamer to bend the tab out to almost horizontal. In order to completely flatten the “tab”, I used a 3x rivet gun with a mushroom flat set installed and a back plate used for back riveting, lots of tape and an air pressure of about 50 psi to finish pounding out the “tab”. This worked quite well. After the tabs were completely flattened horizontal, I cut them off with the band saw and sanded it even. I then softened all the edges with various files and a scotch bright wheel and a pad. After I completed the 6 degree bend up. It worked out quite well and it. Should be pretty nice once I attach everything. ** notice I did not trim the flange back at an angle per the plans right now because I have no reference as to where the skin hole will be match drilled, it will be trimmed once I know where that hole location is so I can maintain proper edge distance. Hopefully this helps someone...

  Apr 10, 2021     ......702 notch continued       Category: Empennage

I then drilled a #30 pilot hole at the marked locations. I guess it was about a 45 degree angle. I then flipped the spar over (flanges faced down) and drilled the #30 pilot hole up to 1/4” with a unibit. It worked out quite well. As you can see, the edge of the holes line up with the bend line quite well.

  Apr 10, 2021     Ok, so here it goes.... 702 notch!!       Category: Empennage

I first drew the bend line 5 3/16” from the end of the spar. I then marked a line 1/8” forward (back towards the end of the spar). Per a discussion with Vans tech support, we came to the conclusion to mark a hole in the middle of the flange radius to allow proper clearance. The drawing “F-F” says to mark that 3/16” from the outside edge of the spar. But instead, it is best to mark and drill the hole at 1/8” inboard from the bend line and in the radius of the spar flange. I then used a spring loaded center punch to give the bit a good start. ** Notice the indent is in the middle of the flange radius.

  Apr 10, 2021     Transition to the front spar. - (3 hours)       Category: Empennage

Due to the back ordered part for the rear HS spar, I decided to move on to the front HS spar. This came with a great deal of reluctance and a ton of research as well as a call to Vans tech support to see if my plan of action would work. I am going to post pictures explaining what I did along each step to hopefully help another builder. I also took an obligatory picture of me working for records.

  Apr 07, 2021     Rear spar - (3.5 hours)       Category: Empennage

Began work on the rear spar. “Broke”, rounded the 609pp to fit into the spar. Also sanded and polished to a nice satin finish. Test fit in the spar, fit great. Could not continue with the rear spar because of the VA-146 bearing that is back-ordered, hopefully that comes in soon.

  Apr 06, 2021     Inventory time - (3 hours)       Category: Empennage

Everything taken out of the boxes and inventoried, everything(except for back ordered bearings) and the correct amount were delivered. Good job Vans!

  Apr 04, 2021     It arrived!!       Category: Empennage

The empennage arrived in two cardboard packages. FedEx was a complete nightmare to deal with, late delivery(normal for them) and they delivered the first package at 11:45 PM!! But alas I finally received the first part of my plane :) PS. Vans really are packaging gurus.

  Mar 26, 2021     Official owner       Category: Empennage

Received the email from Vans stating that I am the official registered owner of my aircraft. Still can't believe it.

  Mar 17, 2021     EMPENNAGE ORDERED       Category: Empennage

Today was a pretty incredible day. A St.Patrick's day I'll never forget, ordered the kit with a glass of Blanton bourbon.