RV-9A Construction Log for the Vertical StabilizerVertical Stabilizer
Yep, this is what it looks like on paper.
Rear spar going together with the skin on the table..
Skin clecoed to the spar for finish drilling
Completed VS rear spar. The white brackets are the hinges for the rudder. The VS skin is standing up in the back ground and in between is what's left of a batch of onion rings from the Tillamook Ice Cream restaurant (best burgers in Lake Oswego).
Fluting VS-405 (a nose rib)
The Mulligan shot- new VS-404 in place and the used and abused original lying in state.
Those holes just won't hold a rivet anymore. You can only drill them out so many times....
Notice also that the top holes in the vertical flanges are too close to the edges. All rivet holes must maintain a minimum distance to the edge of the material being riveted of 1/2 the diameter of the rivet.
Skin in place on the skeleton. Drilling complete, this is coming apart for de-burring, dimpling and priming.
Deburring, dimpling, and priming completed. Getting ready to rivet the skin to the skeleton.
Front spar and middle rib riveted in place.
Man, those new spring-back dimple dies really do a good job. This is a particularly smooth rivet line, no thanks to my skill level. Good tools go a long way toward a good looking product. The dimple dies create the counter sunk hole in the skin where the rivet sets.
Vertical stabilizer complete,
2003.07.03:1230.
These parts may fly yet,
500 rivets down, 14,000 to go