Aug 22, 2022     Horizontal Stabilizer - Final Assembly - (1.5 hours)       Category: HStab +Elevators

Completed assembly of stabiliser, riveted along both sides of spar flange starting from the center and working out, left then right side, not actually specified in the plans but made sense. I know the vertical stabiliser doesn't exactly go there but couldn't resist, it gives me a good idea just how big the plane will be.

  Aug 21, 2022     Horizontal Stabilizer - Final Assembly - (1 hour) Category: HStab +Elevators

Rivetted the spar to the ribs, 24 down 382 to go to completion.

  Aug 21, 2022     Horizontal Stabilizer - Final Assembly - (1.5 hours)       Category: HStab +Elevators

Replaced the last few skin rivets I wasn't too happy with and have now fitted the rear spar which is clecoed in ready to rivet in place, A bit over 400 rivets and I will have a complete horizontal stabiliser.

  Jun 15, 2022     Horizontal Stabilizer - Final Assembly - (.5 hour) Category: HStab +Elevators

After inspection we identified a number of rivets that needed to be drilled out and renewed before the rear spar is permantly fitted, finally got started on that with wing and fuselage kits now due in a couple of weeks. I've identified about a dozen rivets in total still be be replaced.

  Apr 02, 2022     Horizontal Stabilizer - Final Assembly - (1 hour)       Category: HStab +Elevators

Drilled out and replaced some of the rivets on the skin, they were protruding too much plus a couple had been over driven. The rear spar has now been machine countersunk ready to be installed once I'm happy to close up the structure. Will probably spend another hour or so checking alll the rivets.

  Mar 30, 2022     Horizontal Stabilizer - Final Assembly - (0.75 hour) Category: HStab +Elevators

Almost done on the upper surface of the horizontal stabiliser, close to an inspection by my engineer friend before I fit the rear spar.

  Mar 20, 2022     Horizontal Stabilizer - Final Assembly - (1 hour)       Category: HStab +Elevators

Completed port side upper skin rivetting and started the starboard side skin to spar rivets.

  Mar 19, 2022     Horizontal Stabilizer - Final Assembly - (1 hour)       Category: HStab +Elevators

Rivetting the upper skin surface to spar and ribs, 80% done

  Mar 18, 2022     Horizontal Stabilizer - Final Assembly - (.5 hour) Category: HStab +Elevators

Started rivetting the upper surface to the main spar of the horizontal stabiliser.

  Feb 25, 2022     Horizontal Stabilizer - Final Assembly - (0.5 hour)       Category: HStab +Elevators

Completed the rivetting of the lower horizontal stabiliser skins, looking good and getting faster, still need to be careful as rushed a couple and they had to be drilled out and replaced.

  Feb 23, 2022     Horizontal Stabilizer - Final Assembly - (1 hour)       Category: HStab +Elevators

Rivetted the skin to the ribs and stringers on lower port side and have started rivetting the skin to the starboard lower main spar. Have decided to do underside of tail plane first then flip it over and do upper surface.

  Feb 23, 2022     Horizontal Stabilizer - Final Assembly - (1.5 hours) Category: HStab +Elevators

Started riveting the skin starting at the forward spar and have done the lower side of the port stabiliser plus a few rivets that could be put in to improve access. I will get a bit faster with more practise but also need to go slow enough to avoid silly mistakes, I am using larger AD4 rivets down the spar because of my earlier mistake final drilling and enlarging holes incorrectly, read instructions, read again, if unsure, read again. Sometimes though there are things missing, I clecoed the skins to the spar and ribs, looked nice then had to take half of them out as I couldn't get my pop rivetter onto the heads of the spar to nose rib rivets. I will get my work checked soon before closing it up, I'm fairly happy with most of the rivets and have replaced a few as I thought necessary.

  Feb 21, 2022     Horizontal Stabilizer - Final Assembly - (.5 hour) Category: HStab +Elevators

Fitted the forward spar and rib/ stringer assembly to the port and starboard stabiliser skins, next need to rivet spar to nose ribs then can begine riveting the skins to the spars and ribs. I would like to get Chris Schadler to take a look at it before I continue.

  Feb 20, 2022     Horizontal Stabilizer - Parts preparation - (1.5 hours)       Category: HStab +Elevators

Completed the dimpling process for the the ribs, machine countersunk the spars (for the larger #40 AD4 rivets) and stringers with the #30 size in the design then made sure everything was full primed. Now ready to fit to the skins and rivet it all together.

  Feb 18, 2022     Horizontal Stabilizer - Parts preparation - (.5 hour) Category: HStab +Elevators

Dimpling ribs and priming internal structure ready to be fitted to newly rivetted nose ribs, a few few more dimples and some primer plus countersinking the spar caps and stringers to go.

  Feb 16, 2022     Horizontal Stabilizer - Final Assembly - (1.5 hours)       Category: HStab +Elevators

Rivetted the nose ribs to port and starboard skins, what a monumental pain, the ones closest to the top were ok but the front two for the middle nose ribs were very hard, even tilted over it was hard to hold the bucking bar straight, quite a few took several attempts and the gun slipped a few times but no major damage to the skins.

  Feb 09, 2022     Horizontal Stabilizer - Final Assembly - (.5 hour)       Category: HStab +Elevators

Put in the easier of the nose rib rivets which involved a little contortion but only the first one had to be replaced. My little stabiliser holding modification worked well to improve visibility of where I was working. Next step is to do the ones close into the leading edge, a little less room to work but should still go OK. The brace is cut at 45 degrees with a couple of scraps of ply and screwed to the cradles. As the aerofoil is symmetrical you can just lift out the assembly and turn it over to work on the other side rivets.

  Jan 24, 2022     Horizontal Stabilizer - Pre-assembly - (1 hour)       Category: HStab +Elevators

Completed dimpling of the two stabiliser skins including the repair of the dimple error. Fitted the nose ribs ready to begin final assembly of the structure.

  Jan 23, 2022     Horizontal Stabilizer - Parts preparation - (1.5 hours)       Category: HStab +Elevators

Dimpling of port side horizontal stabiliser skin and some of the rivet holes in the starboard side. After the first skin was completed I clecoed the nose ribs into position.

  Jan 21, 2022     Horizontal Stabilizer - Parts preparation - (1.5 hours) Category: HStab +Elevators

Deburring and priming of stabiliser skins, next step is to dimple ready for assembly to commence

  Jan 16, 2022     Horizontal Stabilizer - Parts preparation - (.5 hour) Category: HStab +Elevators

Primed and dimpled nose ribs ready to fit, partly primed the spar/ rib structure and dimpled some of the ribs.

  Jan 15, 2022     Horizontal Stabilizer - Parts preparation - (1 hour) Category: HStab +Elevators

Final drilled the last of the holes that needed upsizing on the skins, carefully identified and marked the holes that will not be dimpled then dissassembled the structure for durring and priming.

  Jan 15, 2022     Horizontal Stabilizer - Parts preparation - (.5 hour) Category: HStab +Elevators

Final/ match drilled the oversize holes in the lower skins of the horizontal stabiliser for AD4 rivets, will do the other side tomorrow then pull the assembly apart for deburring, priming and dimpling.

  Jan 14, 2022     Horizontal Stabilizer - Pre-assembly - (1 hour) Category: HStab +Elevators

Removed the remainder of the vinyl down the rivet lines on both skins and double checked that everything fits ok, I upsized in error some holes in the spar caps to #30 but considered do a mix of AD3 & AD4 rivets down the spar but have now decided thats a dumb idea so will match drill all the holes in the spar and skin to #30, I've reclecoed the skins to the ribs and spars and will now match drill all the #30 holes so skin and spar are same size, once both sides done the skins can come off to be deburred, dimpled and primed.

  Jan 12, 2022     Assembly, Horizontal Stabilizer - (1.5 hours)       Category: HStab +Elevators

Temporarily assembled the horizontal stabiliser, attaching the nose ribs and internal structure to skins so I can verify which holes need to be upsized and dimpled for the larger rivets. Very impressed by the way it all fits together, once the first few clecos were in, all the rest went in very easily and it sits on the bench with about half the clecos. Started removing the vinyl around the rivets so the outside of the skin can be deburred and primed prior to dimpling.

  Sep 05, 2021     Horizontal Stabilizer - Pre-assembly - (1 hour) Category: HStab +Elevators

Scuffed and primed the inside surface of both the horizontal stabiliser skins, they can then be dimpled and placed in the assembly stand. I made a mistake with some of the rivet holes in the forward spar so some of the rivet holes need to be enlarged and dimpled for #30 AN426AD4 rivets, majority are #40 AN426AD4

  Aug 28, 2021     Horizontal Stabilizer - Assembly - (2 hours)       Category: HStab +Elevators

Completed assembly of the ribs and stringers for the horizontal stabiliser, shown below in its cradle but can't do any more until I get some primer for the interior of the skin which also needs to be dimpled. The nose ribs are only clecoed to the front spar because they are rivetted to the skin then the structure is lowered into place inside the skins which sit in that cradle.

  Aug 27, 2021     Horizontal Stabilizer - Spars & ribs - (1 hour)       Category: HStab +Elevators

Began assembly of central stringer and web assembly of the horizontal stabiliser, need to be careful here as the spar caps were drilled one size up by mistake so I need to use larger flush rivets on the skin where it rivets to the forward spar, these will be #30 (1/8th) rather than the #30 (3/32nd) rivets for the majority of the skin rivets.

  Aug 26, 2021     Horizontal Stabilizer - Spars & ribs - (1.5 hours)       Category: HStab +Elevators

Completed the cradles that will hold the horizontal stabilizer during assembly, match drilled the modified inner ribs and primed the flanges ready to dimple.

  Aug 25, 2021     Horizontal Stabilizer - Spars & ribs - (1 hour)       Category: HStab +Elevators

Completed deburring of the horizontal stabiliser ribs

  Aug 23, 2021     Horizontal Stabilizer - Spars & ribs - (1 hour) Category: HStab +Elevators

Deburring nose and intermediate ribs in preparation for trial assembly. Quite a few too do.

  Aug 22, 2021     Horizontal Stabilizer - Spars & ribs - (1.5 hours) Category: HStab +Elevators

Completed rivetting of the spar caps to the forward spar of the horizontal stabilizer, then made the patterns for the stabilizer construction support and started deburring the first of the nose ribs.

  Aug 14, 2021     Horizontal Stabilizer - Spars - (1.5 hours)       Category: HStab +Elevators

Completed deburring and cleanup of forward spar doubler and spar caps, have begun final rivetting of the parts.

  Aug 13, 2021     Horizontal Stabilizer - Spars - (1 hour) Category: HStab +Elevators

Final drill forward spar doubler and start preparation to rivet doubler and spar caps to spar.

  Aug 11, 2021     Horizontal Stabilizer - Spars - (1.5 hours) Category: HStab +Elevators

Match drilling of the upper and lower forward spar caps, deburring all holes and priming mating surfaces ready to rivet in place, Will be substituting the AD3 flush rivets for AD4 flush rivets to attach skin as holes were drilled one size too large, cleared by Vans.

  Aug 07, 2021     HS forward Spar web & stringers - (2 hours) Category: HStab +Elevators

Trim stringers and spar caps, debur and position on spar for match drilling. Plenty of reading and rereading instructions so I don't do anything dumb. Fitted and drilled first positioning holes and clecoed in place.

  Aug 04, 2021     Vert Stabilizer, Final Assembly - (1 hour) Category: HStab +Elevators

Rivetted skin to forward spar of stabilizer and central rib, first use of rivet gun and bucking bar in confined space, a few rivets to be removed and redone in better light.

  Aug 01, 2021     Rear spar, Horizontal stabilizer - Completion - (1 hour)       Category: HStab +Elevators

Rivetted the four pairs of elevator brackets to the spar and bolleted the central flange bracket, will be torqued later.

  Jul 30, 2021     Rear spar doubler, rivet to spar - (1 hour)       Category: HStab +Elevators

36 rivets using my rivet gun for the first time, after first batch I drilled out and replaced two but overall very happy with gun and bucking bar control

  Jul 29, 2021     Horizontal Stabilizer - Spars - (1.5 hours) Category: HStab +Elevators

Debur the rear spar of the horizontal stabilizer and doubler so its ready to prime, lots of holes and lightning holes. Its also about 9ft long.

  Jul 28, 2021     Horizontal Stabilizer - Spars - (1 hour) Category: HStab +Elevators

Final drilling all holes for doubler and elevator hinge brackets, countersinking middle two rivets under elevator flange bracket, dissassemble to complete deburring prior to priming.

  Jul 26, 2021     Horizontal Stabilizer - Spars - (1 hour)       Category: HStab +Elevators

Final drill, assemble and rivet inboard hing brackets to flange bearing, further deburring of spar, still lots to do before ready to prime.

  Jul 25, 2021     Horizontal Stabilizer - Spars - (1.5 hours)       Category: HStab +Elevators

Making a start on the rear spar of the tailplane, has double and four elevator attachment brackets plus central attachment. Deburred doubler and preparing to final drill the elevator brackets.