This time however I did rivet the Rear Spar almost in parallel with the Main Spar. Also I used the squeezer, that worked great with the short rivets (smaller than AN470AD3-7) the larger however failed several time.

I’m really pleased with the rivets on the Main Spar this time they were all great so I didn’t need to drill and reset any of them.

The Rear Spar was not so successful, At the inboard side, the thick doublers where harder to rivet with the squeezer. I had to drill and reset seven rivets and in the end I used the rivet gun and the bucking bar.

Here you can see the result of the rivets that I screwed up with the squeezer. Normally the result of the squeezer is better than the rivet gun, but with these thick doubler plates it didn’t work out.

Now both wings are done with the Ribs, next stop is fitting the skins.

Also this week I ordered the Roll Servo bracket, so I can install that in the right Wing, when the skins are still off and installation is easy. Actually installing the servo will be done later (I hope).

Time: 3 Hours, Rivets: 51/2 (2018-05-30)

Time: 3 Hours, Rivets: 69/5 (2018-06-03)

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I clecoed all the ribs to the main spar, however during riveting I found that the first three (wing walk) ribs on the inboard side should be added while riveting. The space between the ribs is too small for a rivet gun.

With the rear spar in place it starts to look like a piece of on airplane already.

Many holes on the rear spar should NOT be riveted right now. They are riveted in conjunction with the Flap brace and the Aileron gap fairing. I have no idea what these are, but I’m sure I’m going to figure that out in the coming weeks. For now I put cleco’s in these holes to prevent accidental riveting.

Since it has been a while for me when riveting (I try to use the squeezer whenever possible), I screwed up several rivets in the beginning. After a few rivets I regained my “feeling” for the task.

A nice look along the bottom of the left Wing. Again the conduit hole is lining up nicely.

I had to reset three rivets, because I was unhappy with those. They were probably ok (note to self: make photo’s), but since the rest was much better looking, I decided to drill them out and reset them.

The outboard four rivets are flush, because the Aileron hinge bracket is placed on top of them (according to the drawings).

Almost finished, I didn’t complete all rivets on the rear spar. However I stopped pushing for daily goals and started to just enjoy every day I can work on my plane. Sounds mushy, but I tend to make more screw-ups when I pressure for I specific goal, which cost even more time.

Time: 6 Hours, Rivets: 96/3

Time: 1 Hours, Rivets: 22/2

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I’m inspecting all drawings and together with the manual try to figure out what to do.
Just after the Fuel Tank attach platenuts at the bottom of the wing are several Access plates platenuts. These provide access to the Aileron push rods if you need to do some maintenance. Since these Access plates use a #6 screw in the Main Spar, the holes are just a bit smaller than the #8 Tank attach holes.

The Tie down rig (in my hand) needs a wire thread to enable screwing in the eyebolt. Of course these where inch measures again, so I bought a great set of thread taps.

I created threads at both sides, because maybe I can use the top side as a camera mount (if not, it shaves of a few grams).
When I read the manual in advance I found that I had to “Spot Prime” the Main Spar holes I drilled. I wasn’t familiar with that expression, but it kind of speaks for itself.

I’m probably repeating myself, but the best piece of equipment is the pneumatic squeezer. Both dimpling and riveting is a breeze and the quality is great.

Here I rivet the Access plate platenuts. At the inboard side of the Wing there are two platenuts that I had to attach. I’m not certain what they are there fore, but on some drawings it looks like they are use for attaching the Wings to the Bulkhead.

In the evening I finished the Right Tie Down fabrication by drilling the rivet holes for the platenuts. I can’t rivet those, as they all need to be primed first.

Next time I’ll repeat those steps for the Left Wing.

Time: 4 Hours, Rivets: 28/0

Time: 4 Hours, Rivets: 88/0

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Here we are working on the bottom side of the left spar (see markings bottom left). Again working with my dad is not only faster, less error prone, but also much more fun.

After drilling, countersinking and deburring, I prime the Aluminum parts with a cotton-tip. Probably not necessary, but better save than sorry (no my default mantra, but I use it in case of priming)

Check out the NVAV poster (top left) of the International Experimental Fly-Drive-in 2018. It will be held during Whitsun weekend (may 19-21) at the “Midden Zeeland” airport (EHMZ).
Riveting the platenuts to the main spar is yet another task that is much faster with two builders.

And the speed and quality of the pneumatic squeezer is unparalleled.

With only two rivets gone wrong, I’m really satisfied with the result. Now I have to look for the location of WA-822 on the spars.

Time: 6 Hours, Rivets: 182/2

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We started with the first sentence and had to drill holes in the Main Spars of the Wings. This being one of the most expensive parts, I didn’t want to screw this up.
The holes need to fit a #8 screw together with a dimpled (Tank) skin of 0.025″. A rather big hole!

Before I was half way I was doubting my actions and started to call other builders, check the Van’s Airforce Forum and look at other blogs. Turns out the holes are indeed huge. Moreover, now I understand the “flutter” remarks I read on some blogs. If the hole is this big, the pilot of the countersink drill is useless. So as many other builders did before me, I created a jig from a piece of longeron Aluminum.

This guides the countersink pilot and prevents “flutter”, which means that the drill is jumping around in the hole, making terrible edges.
It took over three hours before I was confident enough to finish the first hole. I finished the rest of the holes on the top side of the Left Wing in 30 minutes.

With this knowledge I can finish up the first sentence in the next session. I hope I won’t need two days for every sentence in the manual.

Time: 4 Hours, Rivets: 61/1

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