After a long day of driving rivets, the vertical stabilizer is finally done! I was loathing having to “reach inside” to buck rivets into the stabilizer, but like many things, it was not so bad once I finally got started. The first challenge was riveting the skin to the middle in-spar rib. I called a […]
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Today I got to start putting together the pieces I worked so hard on to make a skeleton of the vertical stab. I was able to use the squeezer for every single rivet. I can see that the party is over for that tool though as I move on next time to put the skin […]
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Tonight was a nice easy night where I got to use one of my favourite toys… the rivet squeezer! After a quick bit of dimpling and machine countersinking, I got the lower doubler attached to the forward spar. As I run my fingers over the smooth flush rivets, I can’t help bunt wonder what OTHER […]
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On day 31, I learned a couple lessons… at least I hope I did THIS time! The first lesson (for the 2nd time), was to READ CAREFULLY! Reading a few steps ahead is a good plan, and helps clarify steps that you are one in the context of the part you are building. Things were […]
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There are a few things that are always satisfying when building. One of those things is the first time you cleco the parts together and make a skeleton that is the shape of the part you are working on. Today, I accomplished that great feeling! I almost achieved that SECOND great feeling (even better) where […]
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Today I got a bit more work done on my vertical stabilizer. The day was entirely filled with drilling and countersinking. The first step was to drill the holes for the lower rudder hinge bracket. Nothing really challenging. Next up was a step that slightly confused me. It was section 6, step 6. It said […]
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Tonight I prepared and clecoed a few more of the parts for the vertical stabilizer, including the doublers and hinge brackets. The biggest challenge was something I never even thought of… finding the hardware! In total there are 6 screws and accompanying nuts and washers. They are not easy to visually distinguish. This was very […]
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Tonight, I got the vertical stabilizer spar caps completed. This was my redemption from night one where I buggered up the spar AND caps. This felt good to achieve! It was also pretty fun to do for the second time because it went so much more smoothly. I can understand now why someone would do […]
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Tonight I only had an hour or so, and I decided to just go out to “cleanup the shop”. I did that, but while I was at it, I figured I’d lay out the parts needed to restart the vertical stabilizer. The first time I tried it, I drilled the wrong size holes in the […]
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