Unfortunately to fasten the Gap Cover to the Fuselage, you need to tap thread into several holes. Turns out I already Riveted these holes. I re-checked the manual and plans, but I can’t find the note that says to NOT rivet these holes.

So I need to drill the rivets out and enlarge them just a little bit to enable tapping thread in them.

You could probably rivet them to the Longeron, but for maintenance it’s easier to make the Gap Cover removable.
Even with the Gap Cover installed, there is still a very small space between the Horizontal Stabilizer and the Gap Cover itself. This is good, because placing hhe aluminum parts against each other would probably go wrong after some time.

To fill this space, you have to cut a piece of rubber strip to the right size to fill that gap in a flexible way.

The rest of the day I prepared enlarging the holes in the Horizontal Stabilizer and Vertical Stabilizer to attach the Empennage Fairing.

Time: 2 Hours, Rivets:  0/0  (2020-05-22)

Time: 4 Hours, Rivets:  0/12 (2020-06-01)

Video

Before trimming we drill a hole in the corner, because snipping into a corner will result in crackling. By drilling a hole, we prevent stress in the Aluminum. Now we can use the left and right snips to trim the Horizontal Stabilizer.

On both sides we had the “First time right”. The Elevators fitted perfectly in the trimmed Horizontal Stabilizer.

After fastening the hinges and drilling the center hinge holes in the Elevator holes, we could finally attach the Elevators to the Horizontal Stabilizer. Look at the size of this part.

So after 129 hours the Empennage is finished. That is to say, I didn’t do the fairings of the Rudder and the Elevators, but as mentioned before, I’ll pick this up as I do the fairings of the Wings.

Time: 4 Hours, Rivets: 0/0

Video

Most of my video’s are time-lapse, because uploading 2000+ hours of video is rather silly. However to give you a “real-time” view, I uploaded this 5 minute video.
The first minute of this video, I’m finding out the exact setting of the pneumatic squeezer for these rivets. The setting differs per rivet and per part (thickness).
Once set correctly, you can use the squeezer to rivet fast and precise. The set rivets are then checked with a rivet gauge to determine if the are up to (MIL’s) spec.
The clamps (silver cylinders) that temporarily attach the parts are called Cleco’s, which is a registered trademark, but used as a product name.

Again I screwed up with two rivets, so they had to be drilled out and reset. Here’s one of them.

I’m very satisfied with the result of the horizontal stabilizer.

Time: 3 Hours, Rivets: 260/2

Video

     

Again on the middle ribs it is impossible to rivet them with “normal” rivet, so blind rivets are used.

Time: 1 Hours, Rivets: 28

Video

Really pleased with the results, here a look into the right horizontal stabilizer at the mid-point. The aft and front rib are riveted together with blind rivets (better known by their brand name Pop-rivet).

Time: 2 Hours, Rivets: 68

Video

Now attach the front spar with the ribs to the left skin.

Riveting the skin to the front spar.

Repeat for the right skin.

With the bucking bar in the front of the horizontal stabilizer, we pushed too hard, which resulted in a minor dent.

It’s so small, I’ll fix that later, when the horizontal stabilizer assembly is finished.

We are not finished yet, the right skin and the rear spar still need to be attached.

Time: 7 Hours, Rivets: 175/1

Video

     

Not very sharp photo, but at the top you can clearly distinguish the first shop-head. After setting all six rivets (and drilling 1 out and reset) I could start with cleaning (degreasing) all the parts of the horizontal stabilizer. I tried making a video of the priming process, but the results were disappointing. Also my (old) spray paint gun broke down, so I had to buy a new one (disappointment again). However the new gun works perfect.

The results are ok, but I can improve on priming, It’s hard to cover large area’s (skins) equally.

Now with all the parts primed I can start with the actual assembly and riveting. According to the plans we start with the rear spar. I learned reading multiple bullets before starting. If I wouldn’t have done that I would certainly have forgotten the other brackets.

Last part today was attaching the hinge bracket in the middle of the rear spar. The tape is there to prevent accidental riveting, because thes are meant for the ribs.

Time: 7 Hours, rivets: 128/2

Video

     

After fitting the left skin it turned out the HS0005 and HS0006 were in the exact right spot. So (with some luck) it turned out to be no real problem.
Next up De-burring, the most tedious part of building a plane, however at least I can sit down for a while on my new stool.

The fact that I cut my finger to one of the spars, shows that I’m not de-burring in vain. Almost the last step before priming is dimpling. Although I tested with the RV Training Project to dimple after priming, I decided to dimple first and then prime.

The DRDT-2 is expensive and I only use it for dimpling (so far), but it makes dimpling really easy. I never tried using a C-frame, but whacking something with a hammer, will probably not work for me. Besides the loud bang and strain in your arm, changes are I either miss the plunger (and dent the skin) or hit it so hard it breaks.
With this device I can hardly screw up. The most important thing is to place the skin with the right side up.

My planning was to also prime today, but I underestimated the de-burring and dimpling.

I did remove the vinyl partly on the outside, where the rivets should go. I see many builders use this method, with a soldering iron, so I’ll try it too. However I don’t see the point of doing this very precise as it is only temporary.

Time: 8 Hours

Video

          

Aligning the pre-drilled center rib holes with the ones of the skin, required a special tool, the broom stick. We used this one also during the curving of the RV Training project.

The end result is very rewarding, however I should take more intermediate photo’s.

Today was a productive day together with my Dad and we made huge progress.

Time: 7 Hours

Video

     

Attaching all the other ribs went very well, because these were all pre-drilled in contrast with the inner ribs.

Time: 2 Hours

Video