Over the last week or so I received a new bottom skin for the right elevator as well as a replacement left spar. The material is thin, and after drilling out a few bad rivets the holes were enlarged and metal actually was bent enough to make me abandon the repair and order new parts.
Now I am back where I need to be to resume riveting. The riveting on the rear spar on the right elevator is challenging as it is tough to secure the assembly and maintain the angle required to set good rivets. In addition the .016 skins are quite fragile. Hope all goes well. The holidays have slowed the progress down a bit for good reason, however I have had a chance to get to the garage a few times over the Thanksgiving break.
I am starting to think a bit more about the fuse kit and when to order. In addition, I am considering the QB fuse, simply to move the project along a lot quicker. Although that would certainly force the finish kit to be ordered at the same time and I am not mentally ready for that. Especially since it was just a couple of months ago that I was considering selling the project and building an RV-12 ;)
Day by Day :)
Sunday, November 26, 2017
Friday, November 10, 2017
Elevator riveting has started
The elevator riveting has started. I was finally able to finish all of the part prep and had a single session of priming with P60G2. I really like the primer a lot as the preparation requires is minimal and I find that it adheres very well and leaves almost a thin plastic like coating on the parts. Obviously the protection is less than a full Epoxy primer, but the prep time is half.
I have decided to reorder the left spar and a few related pieces as the initial riveting bent the flange enough that I was uncomfortable upsizing the rivet and/or bending back in place. I would normally fix mistakes which are minor or cosmetic but absolutely no tolerance for fixing those sorts of things on a spar. The right spar went perfectly after learning my mistakes on the left one.
The elevator horn which I have heard has some alignment issues for other builders did not for me. Granted it is a tight fit as it should be however it is one of those parts that appears like it will not align but as you put the clecos on it begins to take shape. Those rivets came out perfectly.
As I work through the elevators and progress on to the tail cone I will have to start thinking about the fuselage kit order and assess the project as a whole. As many have noticed I was on the fence about moving forward for the rest of the project. I do think that building the fuse will take place and am starting to feel better about continuing on this build.
I have decided to reorder the left spar and a few related pieces as the initial riveting bent the flange enough that I was uncomfortable upsizing the rivet and/or bending back in place. I would normally fix mistakes which are minor or cosmetic but absolutely no tolerance for fixing those sorts of things on a spar. The right spar went perfectly after learning my mistakes on the left one.
The elevator horn which I have heard has some alignment issues for other builders did not for me. Granted it is a tight fit as it should be however it is one of those parts that appears like it will not align but as you put the clecos on it begins to take shape. Those rivets came out perfectly.
As I work through the elevators and progress on to the tail cone I will have to start thinking about the fuselage kit order and assess the project as a whole. As many have noticed I was on the fence about moving forward for the rest of the project. I do think that building the fuse will take place and am starting to feel better about continuing on this build.
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