Empennage- Tailcone

These are the parts that are needed to comply with Service Bulletin SB 18-09-17 that deals with skin cracks that may develop in the bottom skin.

The first couple of pages in the tailcone section of the builder's manual instructs you to modify and separate parts from one another.

The first part that gets separated is the cable guides (F-01497B).

This piece gets separated into four one inch parts and labeled. Later on page 10-21 they will be countersunk to enable a dimpled skin to fit into them and riveted to the skin in the area where the rudder cables exit the fuselage.

Four (F-01497B) Cable Guides!

I cut them with an Xacto knife.

The stiffner angles (F-01473A) are next to be separated.

The metal is thin enough that a pair of tin snips can do the job.

The stiffner angles (F-01497B) were then deburred and I scuffed them with ultrafine Scotchbrite pads because they will be primed later.

*These will be installed later at the very aft end of the fuselage.

Next items to be separated are the aft fuselage "J" stiffeners (F-01486D, F-01486E, and F-01486F).

*Be careful to read the note that instructs you to label the parts before separating the pieces because there are different hole patterns that make each part unique even though they might look alike.

Tin snips does the job!

Of course once the parts are cut you have to debur them.

I like to scuff the parts with ultrafine Scotchbrite pads because they will be primed later and it it easier to do that now before they get dimpled later on.

The battery angle pieces (F-1037B, F-1037C, and two F-1037A's) get separated next and the metal is thick enough that I had to use the bandsaw to do the cutting.

I cut wide of the reference lines and then filed to the line with my flat file.

Battery angle (F-1037B) needs to basically have a notch cut into it but in order to do so there is a specific way to perform the task.

A #30 hole needs to be drilled 1/4" from the end of the part through the center of the angle. (This will give a nice radius to the notch.)

The jig I used really helped to keep the drill bit from wandering as I drilled the hole.

The jig is originally intended to enable you to drill centered holes in tubing but it worked great for this application too!

After the drilling operation, the notch was cut out on the bandsaw.

I cut inside the reference lines and then filed the line with my flat file.

This is the finished (F-1037B) battery angle after deburring and scuffed with ultrafine Scotchbrite.

I jumped ahead a few steps to straighten out the bow in the horizontal stabilizer attachment bars (F-01411C's).

*The manufacturing process that Van's uses causes these fairly thick bars to bow sometimes and that bow needs to be straightened.

Step 4 on page 10-03 describes the straightening process.

Back to the deburring of the battery angle pieces.....

The battery angle (F-1037A's) have additionally had the center holes enlarged to 1/4", which I did on the drill press.

Here are the battery angles (F-1037B, F-1037C, and two F-1037A's) after they have been deburred and scuffed with Scotchbrite pads. Again, because they are going to be primed later...I think there's a pattern going on here...

The bulkhead doublers (F-01410B-L and F-01410B-R) were labeled, and separated next and then deburred and scuffed in preparation for priming.

*It's kind of hard to tell which bulkhead should be left and which should be right because the drawing in the plans shows these pieces flattened but if you keep the angle or fold to the bottom and notice the slight "notch" in the outside of the piece you should be able to label them correctly.

The horizontal stabilizer attachment bars (F-01411C's) were deburred and scuffed in preparation for priming.

There are four "J" stiffeners that need to be modified.

F-01486A-L, F-01486A-R, F-01486B-L, and F-01486B-R "J" stiffeners need to have excess material removed. But first the blue vinyl protective covering is removed.

The material that needs to be removed is the metal that is below the slots that you see in this photogragh.

The metal is thick enough that it is easier to remove it with the bandsaw so that is what I did.

While I had the bandsaw out, I cut off the excess material (the small tab) that is required to be removed from the aft fuselage longerons (F-01418B-L and F-01418B-R) as described in step 2 on page 10-03 in the builder's manual.

Of course after cutting or drilling anything the piece needs to be deburred.

I clamped the "J" stiffener to the workbench and started the process.

Here is one of the "J" stiffeners (F-01486A-R) after it has been deburred and scuffed with the Scotchbrite pad.

This photograph shows the end that had the excess material removed.

The aft fuselage "J" stiffeners (F-01486A-L, F-01486A-R, F-01486B-L, and F-01486B-R) have been edge deburred and scuffed with ultrafine Scotchbrite pads in preparation for priming.

Here is what the ends of the "J" stiffners look like, two of the ends are ones where the excess material has been removed.

Now it's time to remove the excess material on the longerons (F-01418B-L and F-01418B-R).

I cut wide of the reference line and file the excess down with a flat file.

After filing down the "tabs" to the reference lines....you guessed it, the edge deburring begins!

I clamped the longeron to the bench and started the process. The logerons are about 9 feet long so it takes a while to do the job.

Here is what the longeron end that had the "excess tabs" removed looks like after the debur process.

Here are the longerons (F-01418B-L and F-01418B-R) after they have been edge deburred and scuffed with ultrafine Scotchbrite.

*There is still some final drilling and countersinking to do but that will come later.

The fabrication of the horizontal stabilizer attach bar support angle (F-01411D) is next.

There are a lot of angles to be cut and on page 10-04 in figure 1 of the builder's manual the dimensions are given in order to make the piece.

I started out by trueing up the side of the aluminum angle that doesn't have any pre-drilled holes in it because it does need to be shortened slightly. (It is 1 5/32" tall.)

Next, the sides of the angle have some excess material to be removed.

5/32" has to be removed from each side of the back side of the piece so that you create a angle to conform to the fuselage profile.

The back of the angle will end up being 5 13/16" wide and the front will be 6 1/8" wide.

Of course the material is thick so I elected to make the cut using the bandsaw.

Here is what the angle looks like after the cut has been made.

Next I laid out the lines to cut out the material in the middle of the horizontal stabilizer attach bar support angle (F-01411D).

Basically the middle notch is 5/8" deep and 1" wide.

I created a center reference line in the aluminum angle and referenced all the measurements from that line so that I knew the 1" wide gap would be on center.

I drilled holes at each corner of the 1" gap so that the cuts would have a radius...don't need any stress risers here!

The larger holes are there so that I can easily make turns with the bandsaw blade...in otherwords they are relief holes.

Here is the finished (for now) horizontal stabilizer attach bar support angle (F-01411D).

The holes have all been final sized to #30 which will later recieve AN470AD4-7 rivets.

Fabrication of the rudder stops (F-14113-L and F-14113-R).is next.

I started out by final sizing the four holes in each side of the angle to #30 because they will eventually recieve AN426AD4-6 rivets later on in the construction process.

The aluminum angle is then cut into two equal halves using the bandsaw.

They will be about 2 12/32" wide when the cut is made (depending on the width of your bandsaw blade of course).

I laid out the reference lines according to the directions in the builder's manual on page 10-04.

I drew lines on both sides of the angle and this view is showing where the cuts will end up if you could look down through the piece.

Be sure to cut the stops out referencing the lines on the back side as the next photograph will show me doing!

I used a piece of scrap wood to support the aluminum angle as I cut it on an angle and I also cut just "wide" of the lines so that I could later file down to the reference lines and make an accurate rudder stop.

Here are the two roughed out rudders stops (F-14113-L and F-14113-R).

Now comes the filing part!

I wanted our rudder stops to have some "bling" so I went ahead and polished them too!

I will prime the backs of these stops where they touch the fuselage skin and clear coat the fronts with EverBrite clearcoat after they are attached to the skins.

The #30 holes were machine countersunk so that they can recieve AN426AD4 rivet heads.

The aft fuselage bulkheads are next to be worked on. These are the very aft-most bulkheads and there are two of them (F-01412A and F-01412B).

They lay flat against each other and their flanges "point" in opposite directions from each other. Bulkhead (F-01412B) is the end bulkhead of the aft fuselage.

The two bulkheads, (F-01412A and F-01412B) are clecoed to the vertical stabilizer using two vertically aligned #30 locator holes.

Two #40 holes are then match drilled through the bulkheads and into the vertical stabilizer, clecoing each as they are drilled.

I am building a tricycle gear RV14A so the next step is to match drill a #30 hole through the bulkheads and into the vertical stabilizer (the hole is located above the bottom cleco) and then enlarge this now called "systems hole" to 17/64".

(*You can see the systems hole in this photograph, it was just enlarged to 17/64".)

There are four holes that need to be match drilled into the vertical stabilizer next and they will be used to mount the tie down bracket (F-01412D).

After the #30 holes have been match drilled into the vertical stabilizer, they will need to be enlarged after first installing the tied down bracket (F-01412D) into place.

A #12 drill is used to final size the #30 holes and as the drilling progresses, each enlarged hole will have a AN3 bolt inserted and tightened down in order to maintain alignment.

Everything is then disassembled and the holes are deburred.

Here is what the match drilled holes look like in the vertical stabilizer.

These are the two bulkheads (F-01412A and F-01412B) and the tie down bracket (F-01412D) after drilling the #12, #30, and #40 holes.

The two bulkheads (F-01412A and F-01412B) and (F-01412D) were deburred and scuffed with ultrafine Scotchbrite pads in preparation for priming before the next step which will call for dimpling and countersinking because it is easier to do it in this order than after the dimpling process which "eats up" the Scotchbrite pad

All of the holes were final sized at this point as well.

Not all of the holes in the web receive dimples so we marked them with masking tape so as not to accidentally dimple them.

*Be sure to make the dimples so that the manufactured heads are on the aft side of the bulkheads and the outsides of the flanges of the bulkheads.

*We found that although the plans specify that all of the #30 holes on the flanges of the bulkhead are to be dimpled (for Tri-gears) there are two holes that SHOULD NOT BE DIMPLED and they are located on the edges between the four #12 holes that secure the tie down bracket (F-01412D) as you can see in this photograph....we had to flatten these out with flat rivet sets so the bracket will sit flush with bulkhead (F-01412A).

Here we dimpled the #40 indicated holes on the flanges of the bulkheads.

The four #30 holes in the tie down bracket (F-01412D) were machine countersunk with the manufactured heads of the rivets to be located on the aft side of the bracket.

The countersinks are to be large enough to receive a #30 sized skin dimple.

I hate to admit it but I opened up two #30 holes to a #27 size when they should have remained a #30 size.

They are located on the right side of bulkhead (F-01412A) where the rudder stop will eventually be attached.

I contacted Van's Aircraft to see what the remedy would be. Here is what they told me:

To correct this mistake, a doubler to fit inside the flange should be fabricated from metal of the same thickness (.0285") and the doubler must extend beyond the two misdrilled #27 holes by at least one rivet.

This is the doubler that I made.

It is made of (.0285") alcad 2024-T3 aluminum and is 17/32" wide by 2 15/16" long. The center holes are #30 and the end dimple on the left is #30 and the end dimple on the right is #40.

Here is the flange doubler installed.

The #27 holes where the nutplate will be for the inspection panel were dimpled using a #6 screw dimple die.

This is an optional step if flush screws are desired for the inspection plate.

The tiedown bracket (F-01412D), rudder stops (F-14113L and F-14113R), and doubler were washed with acetone and primed with Tempo A702 green zinc phosphate primer.

The aft fuselage bulkheads (F-01412A and F-01412B), were washed with acetone and primed with Tempo A702 green zinc phosphate primer.

Now on to the next row of bulkheads (F-01411A and F-01411B)....

Just like everything else the beburring process begins again so we started out deburring the edges of the bulkheads and then proceeded to final ream and debur all of the #30 and #40 holes on the bulkheads (F-01411A and F-01411B) and the horizontal stabilizer attach bars (F-01411C's, there are two of them).

The horizontal stabilizer attach bars (F-01411C) and the bulkheads (F-01411A and F-01411B) were clecoed together to check for proper alignment and fit then the bars were labeled, to ensure proper placement when they would be later reassembled for final riveting, and then everything was disassembled.

*There is still some deburring, dimpling, and priming to do before we get to the riveting phase!

*Be sure to facet the flanges so that the skins aren't scratched when they are installed...it's a tight fit.

The note is on page 10-06 step 1 in the builder's plans and repeated in step 3 on page 10-09.

I like to smooth the edges with 600 grit sandpaper and scotchbrite pads.

Here are the bulkheads (F-01411A and F-01411B) after they have been deburred and scotchbrited in preparation for priming.

The next step is to flute the bottoms of the bulkheads (F-01411A and F-01411B) so that they will fit in the aft bottom skin (F-01479) but before I did that I went ahead and trimmed the excess material as directed on page 10-15 of the builder's plans.

*I didn't want any of that extra metal interfering and scratching the bulkheads during the fluting process....those edges are rough!

I started out by drawing a double set of reference lines along the skin so that when I was cutting on the bandsaw I could easily see and guide the blade during the cut.

*I drew a double set of reference lines on both the insides and outsides of the aft bottom skin along the edges of the pre-punched slots.

I'm glad I did this because due to the curvature of the aft skin (F-01479), on the first cut, the skin can interfere with the upper side of the bandsaw head which causes you to hold the skin on an angle to make the cut.

The double lines allows you to see where to center the saw blade so as not to cut into the wrong side of the aft bottom skin.

See what I mean!

I final reamed and deburred all of the #40 holes in the aft bottom skin (F-01479) and deburred the edges of the skin as well.

Now I am ready to flute the bulkhead (F-01411A and F-01411B) flanges!

It took a little while and I had to assemble and disassemble everything a few times but I think I got the flanges fluted pretty well.

It's hard to see in this picture but not only is the bottom center flange fluted but each of the individual flange tabs are very slightly fluted also.

I used a standard set of fluting pliers and some duck bill pliers to accomplish the task....oh yeah, you have to do the other half of the bulkhead as well!

Dimpling the bulkhead (F-01411A and F-01411B) flanges is next.

I marked the holes in each of the bulkheads that do not get dimpled with masking tape and then dimpled all of the #40 holes in the flanges using our hand squeezer equipped with a sub-structure male die and a reduced diameter female die installed.

I also dimpled, as an option, the #27 holes that will later allow for flush screw installation of the inspection plates.

Use a #6 screw dimple die for this.

*The flanges of bulkhead (F-01411B) are angled inwards and by using the reduced diameter female die in the squeezer I was able to make the dimples without scratching the bulkhead web.

I primed the bulkheads (F-01411A and F-01411B) with Tempo A702 green zinc phosphate primer.

It is time to rivet the bulkheads (F-01412A and F-01412B) and the tie down bracket (F-01412D) together.

Not all of the holes get riveted so I put masking tape over the ones that don't...don't want any accidents!

I started out riveting the bulkheads at the perimeter first. They receive AN426AD4-4 rivets.

*Be sure and keep the manufactured heads oriented towards the aft sides of the assembly.

I used our pneumatic squeezer with a longeron yoke installed to set the rivets.

We set the four AN426AD4-5 rivets to attach the tie down bracket (F-01412D) next.

The shop heads of the rivets are on the forward side of the assembly.

The manufactured heads of the rivets are on the aft side of the assembly.

The bulkheads (F-01412A and F-01412B) and the two horizontal stabilizer attach bars (F-01411C) were clecoed together in preparation for riveting.

The horizontal stabilizer attach bars (F-01411C) will receive AN470AD4-7 rivets and the center two rivets in the web of the bulkheads receive AN470AD4-4 rivets.

*I kept the manufactured heads oriented towards the front of the assembly.

I used our pneumatic squeezer with a longeron yoke installed to set the rivets.

Time to work on the next bulkhead assembly.

The parts include F-01410A, two F-01410B's, two F-01410C's, and F-01410.

We started out by final reaming all of the #40 holes in the flanges and the #30 holes in the web of bulkhead (F-01410A).

We final reamed all of the #40 holes in the flanges and #30 holes in the web of the bulkhead doubler (F-01410A).

The #40 and #30 holes in the two small doublers (F-01410B's) were final reamed at this time too.

The two horizontal stabilizer attach bars (F-01410C's) need to have the upper center #30 hole enlarged to 1/4" and this must be done using the drill press.

The remaining #30 holes were final reamed as well.

There is a hole at the bottom of bulkhead (F-01410) that needs to be enlarged to 5/8".

This will become a "systems hole".

The "systems hole" is to be enlarged using a step drill bit.

Make sure that you support your work because there is a lot of torque being developed here and you don't want to get your fingers cut or ruin a bulkhead!

This is the step drill bit I used.

Since I had the step drill bit out and I knew that a hole had to be enlarged on the aft bottom skin (F-01479) I went ahead and marked the holes that needed to be enlarged.

The center hole is to be enlarged to 9/16" and the other two holes are to be enlarged to #12 size.

After enlarging the holes I deburred them.

The two doublers (F-01410B's) and the two horizontal stabilizer attach bars (F-01410C's) were edge deburred with a flat file and surface scuffed with ultra fine scotchbrite pads in preparation for priming.

The bulkhead doubler (F-01410A) was edge deburred and the surface scotchbrited in preparation for priming.

The bulkhead (F-01410) was edge deburred and the surface scotchbited in preparation for priming.

The bulkhead (F-01410) and the aft bottom skin (F-01479) were clecoed together and the bottom flange of bulkhead (F-01410) was fluted to fit properly into the aft bottom skin.

As you can see this was fairly simple and only required four flutes.

All of the #40 flange holes (except the four holes in the top two tabs) were dimpled.

I used our hand squeezer with sub-structure dies installed to do the dimpling.

All of the parts were washed with acetone and primed with Tempo A702 zinc phosphate primer.

Bulkheads (F-01407-L and F-01407-R) are next to be worked on...

Although the plans in section 10 never really mention to debur anything I wanted to show a closeup of what the edges of the metal looks like.

Probably a good idea to go ahead and debur, right?

I final reamed all of the #40 and #30 holes in bulkhead (F-01407-L) and then scuffed the surfaces with ultrafine scotchbrite pads in preparation for priming.

All of the #40 holes in the flanges of bulkhead (F-01407-L) were dimpled using our hand squeezer equipped with a 3/32" sub-structure die installed.

There are two holes in the bulkhead that do not get dimpled. This is where the left and right longerons (F-01418B-L and F-01418B-R) will go later on in construction.

I washed the left bulkhead down with acetone to get it ready for primer.

I primed the bulkhead (F-01407-L) with Tempo A702 green primer.

The right half of the bulkhead (F-01407-R) is next....pretty much the mirror image of the left.

Edge deburring started...

As you can see I have scuffed the surfaces with ultrafine scotchbrite pads in preparation for priming as well.

There's those pair of holes on the flanges that don't get dimpled.

I just put a piece of masking tape over them to remind me not to dimple them.

After all of the #30 and #40 holes have been final reamed, deburred, and dimpled I washed the bulkhead (F-01407-R) with acetone and get it ready for primer.

I primed the bulkhead (F-01407-R) with Tempo A702 green primer.

The (F-01410) bulkhead assembly is next on the assembly list.

I clecoed the bulkhead doublers (F-01410A and two F-01410B's) to the bulkhead (F-01410).

*I purposely did not cleco the (F-01410C) stabilizer attach bars into position yet so that it would be easier to manuever the pneumatic squeezer around.

There are three different sized rivets used to complete the construction of this bulkhead so make sure to reference the builder's plans to correctly place the rivets.

The rivets used are: AN470AD3-3.5, AN470AD3-4, and AN470AD4-8.

I found it easier to clamp the bulkhead in the vise and use our pneumatic squeezer with a longeron yoke installed to set the rivets.

When it came time to set the AN470AD4-8 rivets to hold the horizontal stabilizer attach bars (F-01410C), I had to switch to a thinner "domed" rivet set in order to have the proper gap distance to properly set the rivet.

The completed (F-01410) bulkhead assembly.

We clecoed the two bulkhead halves (F-01407-R and F-01407-L) together next in preparation for riveting.

This is a large bulkhead so we found that if we clamped the piece to the workbench it was easier to work on it.

We used the pneumatic squeezer equipped with a longeron yoke to set the AN470AD4-4 rivets called out in the plans.

*There are three rivets in the top of the bulkhead that don't get riveted at this time so make sure to pay attention here!

The service bulletin deals with cracks discovered in the aft fuselage bottom skin in the area of bulkhead (F-01408).

These are the parts of the assembly: (F-01408-R) right bulkhead half, (F-01408-L) left bulkhead half, (F-14115) rudder cable bracket, (F-14147-L and F-14147-R) stiffener clips, (F-14148B and F-14148C) stiffener doublers, and (F-14148A) skin doubler.

Time to get the protective blue vinyl off....

The (F-14147-L and F-14147-R) stiffener clips and the (F-14148B and F-14148C) stiffener doublers need to be separated so I did that on the bandsaw.

Since I was going to be using the bandsaw, I got the (F-01429) bellcrank ribs out and separated them as well.

All separated!

A closer view....

The systems hole on (F-01408-R) needs to be enlarged to 5/8".

I enlarged the hole with a step drill.

I supported the bulkhead half well because when using the step drill a lot of torque can develop and I didn't want any "accidents"!

Here is the enlarged systems hole.

Next, I final reemed all of the #30 and #40 holes in all of the assembly parts and then started the deburring process.

On a side note, after I removed the blue vinyl from the bulkhead half I noticed the small dent at the edge of the metal.

It wasn't very deep but I still wanted to check it out with Van's to see what they recommended.

They said to "dress it out", since it wasn't very deep, and to build on!

Here is (F-01408-R) after deburring and scuffing with ultra fine Scotchbrite pads ready for the dimpling of the #40 holes in the flanges.

There are three holes in the bulkhead half that do not get dimpled.

These two holes on (F-01408-R) are where the longeron (F-01418B-R) will be placed later on in construction.

This hole is on the bottom flange of (F-01408-R) and is where the service bulletin SB-18-09-17 (F-14148A) skin doubler will be attached and riveted later in construction.

I used the hand squeezer with 3/32" sub-structure dies installed to make the dimples.

Dimpled!

The (F-14115) rudder cable bracket was deburred and scuffed next in preparation for priming.

Now to start the process over again, this time I am working on (F-01408-L) bulkhead half...pretty much a carbon copy process of the right half!

Just like the right half there are three holes that do not get dimpled, this one is on the bottom flange and is where the SB-18-09-17 (F-14148A) skin doubler will get attached and riveted later on in construction.

These are the two holes that don't get dimpled on (F-01408-L) bulkhead because later on in construction longeron (F-01418B-L) will go here.

Dimpling complete!

Dimpling complete!

After the dimpling process was completed all of the parts were primed with Tempo A702 green primer.

Bulkheads (F-01408-R), (F-01408-L), and rudder cable bracket (F-14115) were clecoed together in preparation for riveting.

The plans call for AN470AD4-4 rivets which we set using the pneumatic squeezer with a longeron yoke installed.

We found that clamping the assembly to the bench made the job easier to do.

Riveting complete!

Step six in the plans calls for machine countersinking of all of the #40 nutplate attach holes in the two battery angles (F-01437B and F-01037C) after they have been final drilled to size.

The countersink is to be sized so that the head of a AN426AD3 type rivet will fit in it.

The center hole is to be final drilled to size #12.

*There are two sets of nutplate holes on the battery angles that aren't used for the RV-14, they are located on the forward end of the angles.

I primed the two battery angles (F-01437B and F-01037C) with Tempo A702 green primer paint.

I final reamed all #30 and #40 holes and deburred the edges of all of the SB-18-09-17 service bulletin parts. The two stiffener clips (F-14147-R and F-14147-L) are to have the #40 holes dimpled.

I used the hand squeezer to make these dimples. I used a reduced diameter female die set because the flange space is limited on the inside of the stiffener clip and the reduced diameter die made the job much simpler to do.

The edges of the (F-14148A) skin doubler was deburred and then beveled according to the service bulletin and then all of the #40 holes on the surface of the doubler were machine countersunk to accept a head of a AN426AD3 type rivet.

The SB-18-09-17 service bulletin parts were washed with acetone and then primed with Tempo A702 green primer.

I final reamed all of the #30 and #40 holes in the bellcrank ribs (F-01429-L and F-01429-R)

The edges were deburred and then I scuffed the surfaces of the bellcrank ribs (F-01429-L and F-01429-R) before the next step which is to dimple the flange holes, I do that so that it doesn't "eat up" the scotchbrite pads when going over dimpled surfaces.

Nice!

The bellcrank ribs (F-01429-L and F-01429-R) forward end flanges have #30 holes but only the top hole is dimpled, the rest remain "un-dimpled".

*This is per builder plans step 2, page 10-12.

I dimpled all of the #40 holes in the bottom flanges of the bellcrank ribs (F-01429-L and F-01429-R) using our hand squeezer.

The bellcrank ribs (F-01429-L and F-01429-R) were washed with acetone in preparation for priming.

Both of the bellcrank ribs were primed with Tempo A702 green primer.

The next item to work on is the aft bulkhead (F-01406B) and just like everything else, got to remove the protective blue vinyl!

I final reamed all of the #30 and #40 holes on the aft bulkhead (F-01406B) and deburred all of the edges.

I scuffed all of the surfaces on the aft bulkhead (F-01406B) with Scotchbrite ultra fine pads before the dimpling process began.

There are #30 and #40 holes in the bulkhead (F-01406B) that require dimpling and I used our DRDT2 and also a hand squeezer to do the job.

*Steps 6 and 7 on page 10-12 in the builder's manual specifies what needs to be dimpled and also there is a note that reminds you to make sure that the manufactured heads of the rivets will be on the forward and top sides of the bulkhead so dimple accordingly!

The aft bulkhead (F-01406B) was washed with acetone in preparation for priming.

I primed the aft bulkhead (F-01406B) with Tempo A702 green primer.

There is an angled nutplate (MS21055L08) that needs to be dimpled before being attached to the aft bulkhead (F-01406B) and I used our DRDT2 to do the job.

Time to do some riveting!

Four nutplates (K1000-08) were riveted to each of the battery angles (F-1037B and F-1037C) using our pneumatic squeezer to set AN426AD3-3.5 rivets.

Manufactured heads to the top.

*Be careful here because there is one nutplate (K1000-3) in addition to the other four nutplates (K1000-08) that is riveted to the battery angles. There is also one set of holes that are not even used.

The battery angles (F-1037B and F-1037-C) are then riveted to the bellcrank ribs (F-01429-L and F-01429-R) using AN470AD4-4 rivets which we set using our pnuematic squeezer.

The various nutplates are then riveted to the aft bulkhead (F-01406B) using our hand squeezer to set them in place with AN426AD3-3.5 rivets making sure that the manufactured heads were located on the forward and top sides of the bulkhead.

There are nine (K1000-08D) nutplates and two (MS21055L08) angled nutplates riveted in place.

We clecoed the bellcrank rib assemblies (F-01429-L and F-01429-R) to the aft bulkhead (F-01406B) so that they could be riveted together.

It looked like using the 3x rivet gun and a tungsten bucking bar was our best option to set the AN470AD4-4 rivets so we clamped everything to the table before we started.

All set!

The stiffeners (F-01486C-L and F-01486C-R) were the next items to start working on.
First, off comes the blue vinyl.
Second, all of the #40 holes get final sized using the #40 ream.
Third, all of the edges get deburred.
Fourth, the surfaces get Scotchbrite scuffed.
Fifth, all of the #40 holes get dimpled.

All of the #40 holes in the aft fuselage stiffeners flanges (F-01486C-R and F-01486C-L) need to be dimpled. I started to do that here using our DRDT2 after all of the surfaces have been scuffed in preparation for priming.

*I used a reduced diameter 3/32" female set and a sub-structure 3/32" male set here to do the dimpling....just a little more protection from hitting the sides of the channel with the wider female die set.

The stiffeners (F-01486D and F-01486E) are the other stiffeners on the table waiting to be dimpled.

If you have an empennage kit that was shipped before 9/26/2018, then you have to pay attention to the holes that are not supposed to be dimpled at this time (according to SB 18-09-17) that is why I taped the two holes on each of the stiffeners (F-01486D and F-01486E) as shown here.

*See figures 4 and 5 on page four and five of the SB-18-09-17 compliance sheet. These are the areas where the doublers will later be attached.

The stiffeners (F-01486C-L and F-01486C-R) were washed with acetone and then primed with Tempo A702 green primer.

The dimpling process continued and all of the following stiffeners were dimpled as described earlier: F-01486B-L, F-01486B-R, F-01486A-L, F-01486A-R, and the two F-01473A's.

In preparation for the machine countersinking process that would come next on the longerons, I made a few guide blocks so that when the countersinking began I would not get any "wobbling" as the countersink got deeper into the metal....just a little more of a guide for the nipple on the countersink head.

The clecos hold the guide block in place and what you get is a nice clean countersink!
I eventually had to make several guide blocks because not all of the holes in the longerons were located the same distance apart; kind of a pain but well worth the effort.

Let the machine countersinking of the longerons (F-01418B-L and F-01418B-L) begin!

It is nice to have the piece clamped to the table as well.

Remember the stiffeners I dimpled yesterday? Today I primed them with Tempo A702 primer green.

Finally, all of the #40 holes in the longerons (F-01418B-L and F-01418B-R) have been machine countersunk so that a #40 sized dimple of the overlying skins will fit nicely.

*Be careful when it comes to countersinking any of the #27 holes in the longeron, this must be done later if you chose to have a flush inspection cover installation.

The long stiffeners (F-01486A-L, F-01486A-R, F-01486B-L and F-01486B-R) have been washed with acetone and primed with Tempo A702 primer green.

*I had to paint these over the course of two mornings because the heat of the desert where I am exceeds the maximum temperature that the Tempo primer can be applied which is 90°F.

The longerons (F-01418B-L and F-01418B-R) were washed with acetone and primed with Tempo A702 primer green.

Time to remove the protective blue vinyl from the aft fuselage bottom skin (F-01478).

Bare metal!

Some don't like to section the blue vinyl from the skins but I still do it because otherwise too many scratches result.

In this photograph you can see the diamond shape of where the skin doubler will go in order to comply with Service bulletin SB 18-09-17.

All of the #40 holes were final reamed with a number 40 reamer and then scuffed with ultrafine ScotchBrite pads so that later they can be primed.

All of the #40 holes had to be final sized on the bottom skin because the dimple die would not fit into the pre-punched hole...odd, because the other skins barely needed it.

I put an edge break on the aft end of the bottom skin because later the aft tail "skid" skin will go under this section and I want a nice tight seam here.

The deburring process begins on the edges of the bottom skin (F-01478).

I sectioned off the protective blue vinyl on the aft fuselage left side skin (F-01473-L).

The inside of the aft fuselage left side skin (F-01473-L.)
All of the #40, #30, and #27 holes have been final sized and deburred.

A closer look at the primed (F-01473A) stiffener angles. They will be located at the aft end of the tailcone section under the inspection covers.

These are the (F-1037A) battery angles.

These are the stiffeners (F-01486D, F-01486E, and F-01486F).

These are the (F-01486C-L and F-01486C-R) stiffeners.

These are the longerons (F-01418B-L and F-01418B-R).

This is one pair of side stiffeners (F-01486B-L and F-01486B-R).

This is one pair of side stiffeners (F-01486A-L and F-01486A-R).

All of the holes in the aft fuselage left side skin (F-014873-L) have been final sized and the edge deburring has begun.

I like to scuff around the #40 holes with ultrafine Scotch Brite pads so that I can prime in only those areas and hopefully save some weight by not painting the whole interior, but it is a lot of work and time consuming.

If you are wondering about the size of this skin it is 7 feet 10 1/2" long.

I have elected to use a different static port than the one used as standard from Van's.

This static port is from Cleaveland Aircraft Tools and the part number is (SPFKITW), it does not have to have a short 1/8" tube overlapped by the standard 1/4" tubing of the static line. It goes straight to a 1/4" tube diameter, which is nice.

In order to use this port however you have to modify the aft fuselage side skins slightly which I will show you in the next photographs.

Here is what is included in the Cleaveland Aircraft Tools static port conversion kit. There are two static ports, several quick connect junctions, and new static port lines.
The cost is around $35.

The 1/8" hole in the side skin has to be enlarged to 1/2" using a unibit so that the new static port can sit recessed in the skin.

I used a test piece of metal to see what it would look like.

Once the hole has been enlarged the area around it has to be scuffed with 150 grit aluminum oxide sandpaper because the port will be adhered to the skin with tank sealant or RTV adhesive.

I put an edge break on the lower edge of the aft fuselage left side skin (F-01473-L) so that when the side gets riveted to the bottom skin there will be a nice tight seam.

*See the note at the top of page 10-14 in the builder's manual.

All of the #40 holes in the left side skin (F-01473-L) were dimpled. *Be sure to use a small diameter female die set in the curved areas in order to minimize distortion.

I dimpled all of the #30 holes in the aft fuselage left side skin (F-01473-L) with the exception of the four that are not to be dimpled as indicated in figure 1 on page 10-14 in the builder's manual. (They are located at the lower aft end of the skin. See photograph below.)

I dimpled the #27 holes around the inspection cover opening using a #6 screw dimple die in the DRDT2.

I didn't discover a mistake I made in dimpling the #27 holes until I was editing the photographs for this blog post but apparently I dimpled two holes I wasn't supposed to dimple and didn't dimple two holes that I was supposed to dimple.

*I am waiting for a response from the technical counselors at Van's Aircrsft to see if I can safely "undimple" the two #27 dimples that weren't supposed to be dimpled....I'll let you know later what they said.

I dimpled all of the #40 holes in the aft fuselage bottom skin (F-01478) with the exception of the six holes that Service Bulletin SB 18-09-17 affects.

You can see the skin doubler (F-14148A) that will be used to comply with the service bulletin, it's the green primered diamond shaped plate in the photograph.

I used the DRDT2 to make the dimples.

Here it is all dimpled!

I am about to take off the blue protective vinyl from the aft fuselage right side skin (F-01473-R).

Bare metal!

Just like the left side skin, I sectioned off the blue vinyl on the aft fuselage right side skin (F-01473-R).

I enlarged the 1/8" hole for the right side static port to 1/2" using a unibit.

The inside of the aft fuselage right side skin (F-01473-R) was scuffed using 150 grit aluminum oxide sandpaper so that the new static port can be adhered to the skin.

All of the holes on the aft fuselage right side skin (F-01473-R) were final sized and deburred. I also scuffed around the holes with ultrafine Scotch Brite pads in preparation for priming.

I scuffed around the holes of the aft fuselage bottom "tailskid" skin (F-01479) in preparation for priming

I dimpled all of the #40 holes in the aft fuselage bottom "tailskid" skin (F-01479) using the DRDT2 making sure to have a reduced diameter female die set installed so that when dimpling in the curved sections distortion would be minimized.

You might be wondering what's up with the yellow "MiraCool" vest and the blue "Thermo Cool" collar?

It's been routinely 95°F in the shop lately and although we have a small A/C unit in the shop it really doesn't have enough BTU's to cool things down so I am trying these items out to see if I can remain somewhat cool during my work sessions.
The collar works well but the vest...not so much, ironically it was the most expensive of the two.

I started to debur the bottom edge of the aft fuselage right side skin (F-01473-R).

I put an edge break on the bottom edge of the aft fuselage right side skin (F-01473-R).

I washed the inside areas of the aft fuselage bottom "tailskid" skin (F-01479) with acetone and then I primed the middle bulkhead area with Tempo A702 primer green.

The gray primer around the #40 holes is PTI gray zinc phosphate primer. It is brushed on.

I started dimpling the #27 holes around the inspection cover opening on the aft fuselage right side skin (F-01473-R) and this time I payed particular attention to dimpling the holes I was supposed to dimple and not dimpling the holes I'm not supposed to....don't want to make that mistake again!

The top two #27 holes are not supposed to be dimpled if you elect to optionally have a flush mounted inspection plate.
They will eventually be machine countersunk after the fuselage skin has been riveted in place later on in construction.

I also dimpled the #30 holes with the exception of the four you are not supposed to dimple.

I used the DRDT2 to make most of the #40 dimples making sure to use a reduced diameter female die set in the curved sections.
I used a hand squeezer along the bottom edge to dimple those holes.

All of the holes in the aft fuselage right side skin (F-01473-R) have been dimpled.

I primed around all of the holes in the aft fuselage right side skin (F-01473-R) after first washing everything with acetone.

I used PTI gray self ecthing zinc phosphate primer.

I primed around all of the holes in the aft fuselage left side skin (F-01473-L) after first washing everything with acetone.

I used PTI gray self ecthing zinc phosphate primer.

I primed around all of the holes in the aft fuselage bottom skin (F-01478) after first washing everything with acetone.

I used PTI gray self ecthing zinc phosphate primer.

Time to correct the mistake I made on the aft fuselage left side skin (F-01473-L).

After checking with technical support at Van's Aircraft they said it was okay to flatten the two #27 dimples that I made on the inspection cover area of the aft fuselage left side skin.
I used two flat set dies in the DRDT2 to flatten out #27 holes that I dimpled on a scrap piece of aluminum first to see what it would look like.

The results didn't look too bad so next I flattened the #27 dimples on the aft fuselage left side skin (F-01473-L) around the inspection cover opening that we were talking about.

This is what it looks like on the inside.

This is what the flattened dimples look like from the outside.

Later on after the skin has been riveted on, the top #27 holes will be machine countersunk to accept the head of a #6 screw. (See step 3 page 10-20 in the builder's manual.)

Now it's time to remove the protective blue vinyl from the aft fuselage right top skin (F-01474-R).

I start out by removing the skin from the inside of the part.

I know it takes extra time to section out the protective blue vinyl, but to me it is worth it because these skins get plenty of scratches on them when moving them around on the bench and when dimpling them.

This is the outside of the aft right top fuselage skin (F-01474-R).

All of the #30, #40, and #27 holes get final reamed and deburred at this point as well.

The aft fuselage top center skin (F-01475) is next.

The outside of the aft fuselage top center skin (F-01475) gets sectioned off too.

All of the holes get final reamed and deburred at this point as well.

I scuffed around all of the holes in the aft right top fuselage skin (F-01474-R) with Scotch-Brite ultrafine pads in preparation for priming.

The aft fuselage top center skin (F-01475) holes were Scotch-Brite scuffed in preparation for priming.

I clamped the aft fuselage top center skin (F-01475) to the workbench and deburred the edges using a hand file.

It is easier for me to have the piece clamped to the bench when doing the edge deburring, plus with it being backed up with the long two by four it won't flop around much!

Before I dimple the aft fuselage top center skin (F-01475), I put an edge break on both of the long sides and the aft edge of the skin using an edge rolling tool (per instructions in the manual on page 10-29, figure 1.)

*There are several holes (five, #40 and one #27) on this skin that aren't supposed to be dimpled so I placed some tape over them to remind me not to dimple them.

The aft fuselage top center skin (F-01475) is now dimpled. I used our DRDT2 to make the dimples.

After the dimpling was done I started to edge debur the aft fuselage right top skin (F-01474-R) using the same process of clamping it to the workbench as I did for the center skin.

After finishing the edge deburring process on the aft fuselage top right skin (F-01474-R), I put an edge break on the lower side of the skin using our Cleaveland Air Tools edge roller.

*The arrow in the photograph shows the slight break, this skin will overlap the aft fuselage side skin so I wanted a nice tight joint here.

There are several holes on the aft fuselage top right skin (F-01474-R) that do not get dimpled (see figure 1, page 10-30 in the builder's manual) so I placed some tape over them and began the dimpling process using our DRDT2.

I dimpled all of the #30 and #40 holes using the DRDT2 equipped with reduced diameter 1/8" or 3/32" female dies in order to reduce distortion in the curved areas of the skin.

*There is a small note in the instructions on page 10-16, step 1, that gives advice about this setup when doing curved or rolled sections of the skins.

Here is the dimpled aft fuselage top right skin (F-01474-R).

*The tape that you see in the photograph are the holes that are not supposed to be dimpled.

I washed the inside of the aft fuselage top right skin (F-01474-R) with acetone and primed the holes with PTI zinc phosphate primer.

I washed the inside of the aft fuselage top center skin (F-01475) with acetone and primed the holes with PTI zinc phosphate primer.

Time to start on the aft fuselage top left skin (F-01474-L) so off with the blue protective vinyl and sectioning the vinyl on the outside too. "DejaVu all over again!"

All of the #30, #40, and #27 holes were final reamed and deburred.

I scuffed all of the holes on the aft fuselage top left skin (F-01474-L) with Scotch-Brite pads and deburred all of the edges with a hand file.

After the edge debur was finished on the aft fuselage top left skin (F-01474-L), I put a slight edge break on the bottom side of the skin with an edge rolling tool.

*The arrow in the photograph shows where the edge break is.

Let the dimpling begin!

Same process as before, tape over the holes that aren't supposed to be dimpled and use reduced diameter 1/8" and 3/32" females dies in the DRDT2 in order to reduce distortion in the curved areas.

All of the #30 and #40 holes (except those that aren't supposed to be dimpled) have been dimpled on the aft fuselage top left skin (F-01474-L).

I washed the inside of the aft fuselage top left skin (F-01474-L) with acetone and primed all of the dimples with PTI zinc phosphate primer.

Now that all of the big parts have been dimpled, edge deburred, and primed it's time to move on to the smaller parts.

Here is what's left:

(F-01414) Aft Deck
(F-01475A) Skin Doubler
(F-014112) Two- Inspection Covers
(F-01409) Bulkhead Frame
(VS-01402) Vertical Stabilizer bracket
(F-01412C) Deck Angle
(F-014111) Two- Empennage Gap Covers
(F-01411E) Deck Doubler
(F-014131) Upper Aft Fuselage Rib

Let the edge deburring begin!

The (F-014111) empennage gap covers have been edge deburred and set aside.

This is the (F-01411E) deck doubler and it has been edge deburred, holes deburred, and scuffed and ready for priming.

This is the (F-01475A) skin doubler. All of the holes have been final reamed and deburred. The edges have been deburred and the surfaces have been Scotch-Brited in preparation for priming. All of the holes have been dimpled and I washed the part with acetone and priming is next.

After priming the parts, I like to let them hang to dry for a couple of days before handling them.

The Tempo primer that I am using gets tougher as time goes on. It's a little "fussy" as primers go; I am going to switch to another primer later in the build which promises to be more user friendly, but for now I will stick with Tempo so that all of the colors match.

This is the (F-01411E) deck doubler primed with Tempo A702 primer.

This is the (F-01412C) deck angle.

This is the (VS-01402) vertical stabilizer bracket.

This is the (F-01475A) skin doubler.

I finished edge deburring the upper aft fuselage rib (F-014131) and then scuffed all of the surfaces with Scotch-Brite ultrafine pads.

Now it's time to dimple all of the #40 holes using our hand squeezer. I used a 3/32" Cleaveland Air Tools substructure male die and a reduced 3/32" female die (just to clear the sidewalls of the flange) to make the dimples.

The upper aft fuselage rib (F-014131) was washed with acetone and is now ready for priming.

This is the (F-014131) upper aft fuselage rib after being primed with Tempo A702 primer.

I edge deburred the aft deck (F-01414) and then Scotch-Brited the surfaces with ultrafine pads in preparation for priming.

*Dimpling is the next step but pay attention to which holes get dimpled and in what direction they get dimpled. Figure 1, page 10-27 in the builder's manual shows how they should be done.

This photograph shows the holes that are to be dimpled a little better.

There are eight #40 holes just forward of the largest lightening hole. There are four #40 holes on the aft flange.

I primed the aft deck (F-01414) with Tempo A702 primer and hung it up for drying.

This is another photograph of the aft deck (F-01414).

I think that this is the last part to be worked on in preparation for priming.

I edge deburred the frame bulkhead (F-01409) and scuffed the surfaces with Scotch-Brite ultrafine pads.

*Step one on page 10-27 in the builder's manual cautions you to facet the edges of this part so take care to do it because this piece will be in contact with the aft fuselage upper skins.

All of the #40 holes in the frame bulkhead (F-01409) were dimpled with our hand squeezer equipped with a 3/32" substructure male die and a reduced diameter 3/32" female die.

The part was then washed with acetone in preparation for priming.

The frame bulkhead (F-01409) was primed with Tempo A702 primer and hung to dry for a couple of days.

This is another photograph of the frame bulkhead (F-01409). It's finally time to begin assembling the tailcone! Back to page 10-13, step one in the builder's manual.

Bulkhead (F-01407) was clecoed to the battery angle/bellcrank assembly in order to rivet them together with AN470AD4-4 rivets.

The top four rivets were easy to do with the pneumatic squeezer, but the bottom two rivets had to be done with our 3X rivet gun and a bucking bar.

This photograph shows the four rivets that we were able to set using the pnuematic squeezer.

We had to use the 3X rivet gun equipped with a 1/8" cupped set and a tungsten bucking bar against the shop end.

You can see that we had to put the manufactured head on the aft side of this bulkhead and set the shop head on the forward side because of the tight space we had to work in.

Now it's time to rivet the aft fuselage bottom skin (F-01478) to the bulkheads and battery angle/bellcrank assembly so first we taped over the holes that do not get riveted at this time (see figure 1, page 10-13 in the builder's manual.)

There are four additional rivets near the aft end of the bottom skin (F-01478) that don't get riveted yet as well, you can see the tape marking the spot in this photograph. This is because Service bulletin (SB-18-09-17) for empennage kits shipped before September 26, 2018 require extra doublers and stiffener clips be placed in this area.

The bottom skin (F-01478) is "strattled" across our two workbenches and then the bulkheads (F-01407 and F-01408) along with the battery angle/bellcrank assembly are clecoed into position.

The J-stiffeners (F-01486C-L, F-01486C-R, F-01486D, and F-01486E) were slid into position and clecoed to the aft fuselage bottom skin (F-01478).

Service bulletin (SB-18-09-17) parts (F-14148A) skin doubler, (F-14148B and F-14148C) stiffener doublers, and (F-14147-L and F-14147-R) stiffener clips were clecoed into position.

This is a closer look at the service bulletin (SB-18-09-17) skin doubler (F-14148A,) diamond shaped plate, clecoed into place.

*The tape markers on the outer stringers first two rivets have stiffener clips (F-14147-L and F-14147-R) clecoed underneath. These are not riveted into place yet because they have to have two holes each (total of four holes) match drilled into the bulkhead (F-01408) a little later on.

This is what everything looks like under the area shown in the photograph above.

The left and right arrows point to the (F-14147-L and F-14147-R) stiffener clips, and you can see the two holes in each clip that need to be match drilled into the bulkhead (F-01408.)

The center arrow shows the (F-14148B) stiffener doubler which is in turn clecoed to the (F-14148A) skin doubler overhead. It can be riveted in place at any time.

This is the (F-14148C) stiffener clip that is clecoed to the (F-14148A) skin doubler overhead, just aft of the (F-01408) bulkhead. It too can be riveted in place at any time.

(The center hole in this stiffener clip is just an identification aid to tell the difference between the two stiffener clips and does not receive a rivet.)

Let the riveting begin!

We start at the center and work our way out towards the edges. We are using AN426AD3-3.5 rivets for the majority of the riveting (the service bulletin parts will receive different rivet sizes) and we are using our 3X rivet gun along with a tungsten bucking bar to set the rivets.

We finished riveting the J-stiffeners, the bulkheads, and the battery angle/bellcrank assembly to the aft fuselage bottom skin (F-01478).

Most of the rivets are AN426AD3-3.5 rivets except in the areas where service bulletin (SB-18-09-17) applies. AN426AD3-4 and AN426AD3-5 rivets join the (F-14148A) skin doubler and (F-14148B and F-14148C) stiffener doublers to the structure. (See figure 4 and figure 5 in the service bulletin service sheet instructions.)

Here is a side view of our setup.

Bulkhead (F-01410) was clecoed to the aft fuselage bottom skin (F-01478).

Stiffeners (F-01486A-L and F-01486B-L) were placed into the slots of bulkheads (F-01407 anf F-01408.)

Bulkhead (F-01411) was clecoed to longeron (F-014718B-L).

The aft fuselage left side skin (F-01473-L) was clecoed to the fuselage assembly and then positioned upright onto the assembly tables.

Here it is on the workbench.

Another view looking towards the inside.

The next task is to route the aft fuselage wiring harness (WH-00057) and the aft fuselage phone cable (WH-00059) along the bellcrank ribs (F-01429-L and F-01429-R) and into the channel of the J-stiffener (F-01486A-L) and through the notches of the aft fuselage bulkheads (F-01407 and F-01408).

*Sounds easy right?.....wrong!
There is a note just before step 8 on page 10-14 of the builder's manual that suggests that you take a look at the systems installation instructions beginning on page 10-21. Better review those pages before moving forward. After you do that it's not too bad but get ready to cleco and uncleco the left skin as you move along.

Basically page 10-21 shows what snap bushings go where along the wiring route but the main focus will be on pages 10-25 and 10-26 in the builder's manual.

*Don't forget to split one side of the snap bushings so that you can get the molex ends and phone jack ends through the bushing! They are tough to cut so make sure you have a sharp blade.

You start out by labeling the molex ends C410P and C409P an the wiring harness (WH-00057).The wires run aft along the left bellcrank rib (F-01429-L) and then two wires, (C1037 and C1036), cross over towards the right side of the fuselage, through the bellcrank ribs, and then are routed back towards the front of the fuselage along the right bellcrank rib (F-01429-R).

*I suggest that you start the phone cable (WH-00059) routing at this point before sending the two wires through the bellcrank ribs because there isn't enough room for the phone cable jack to go through the holes in the rib with the two wires already in....ask me how I know?

Van's gives you plenty of 4" tie wraps to keep everything neat and tidy and there are pre-punched holes to secure the wires to but keep the tie wraps loose for now because there may be more wires to be added later.

The larger molex connector end of the wiring harness (WH-00057) is to be labeled C410P.

*Take a close look at the connections on the molexes, the smaller molex on my harness had a (ES-00047) pin connector that wasn't crimped right and I had to order a new pin.

This is the smaller molex connector of the wiring harness (WH-00057) which is to be labled C409P. It is the molex that had the mis-crimped (ES-00047) pin connector.

When threading the phone cable (WH-00059) jack through the holes in the bellcrank ribs (F-01429-R and F-01429-L) I had to lightly bevel the edges of the jack with 400 grit sandpaper in order to get it to pass through. It doesn't take much but it certainly made a difference.

As you can see in this photograph the wires go across and up bulkhead (F-01407) and then aft through the notches and then sit in the channel of the J-stiffener (F-01486A-L).

Now it's time to match drill the #30 holes of the vertical flanges of the (F-14147-L and F-14147-R) stiffener clips into the bulkhead (F-01408).

*The red arrows show which holes need to be match drilled. There is a note in Service Bulletin (SB-18-09-17) that advises you to put wood blocks behind the bulkhead and the areas where the holes are being drilled so don't forget to do that.

The holes are #30 match drilled.

After match drilling the #30 holes the stiffner clips (F-14147-L and F-14147-R) have to be removed and the holes deburred.

I primed the area in the holes again with Tempo A702 green primer and then clecoed them back into position, except I'm going to let the drilled upper holes dry a little before putting the clecos back.

There is a pilot hole that needs to be filled on the aft bottom skin (F-01479) and a AN426AD3-3 rivet is used to accomplish that.

This can be easily done using the back rivet set in our 3x rivet gun.

Just a couple of "taps" and the rivet is set!

Next, the (F-01412) bulkheads are clecoed into position for riveting.

*Be sure to tape off the four rivets that don't get riveted at this time. I just put some tape on the clecos so I don't inadvertently rivet them.

Remember the stiffener clips? I just got done riveting them in place.

First we riveted the bottom skin (F-01478) and aft fuselage stiffeners (F-01486C-R and F-01486C-L) to the clips using the 3x rivet gun and tungsten bucking bar. We used AN426AD3-4 rivets here because the 3-3.5 rivets seemed too short.

After that was done I riveted these rivets using a pnuematic squeezer for the upper rivets and the hand squeezer with a 3" yoke to get into the tight space to get the bottom rivets. AN470AD4-4 rivets were used here.

At this point, Service Bulletin (SB-18-09-17) has been complied with.

Back to the aft bottom skin (F-01479) assembly.

The bulkheads (F-01412) get riveted to the aft bottom skin (F-01479) with AN426AD3-4 rivets.
*Again, we substituted the AN426AD3-3.5 rivet callouts with AN426AD3-4 rivets because the 3-3.5 seemed just a little too short.

Don't forget to not rivet the four rivets (two top holes on each side)!

Inside bulkhead (F-01412A).

Aft bulkhead (F-01412B).

The (ES-00047) mini sub pins arrived so now I have to repair the mis-crimped pin on the blue and white wire I found on the wiring harness (WH-00057) that connects to the molex that is labled (C409P). After I did that I reinserted it into the molex and finished routing the wiring harness (WH-00057) and phone cable (WH-00059) through the aft fuselage assembly.

The cable ties have to be kept loose still.

Front to back.... The installation instructions are described on pages 10-25 and 10-26 of the builder's manual.

The stiffeners (F-01486A-R and F-01486B-R) are inserted into the slots in bulkheads (F-01407, F-01408).

Longeron (F-01418B-R) is inserted into the slots of bulkheads (F-01407, F-01408, and F-01410).

Finally bulkhead (F-01411) is then clecoed onto longeron (F-01418B-R).

The aft fuselage right side skin (F-01473-R) is then clecoed into position on the aft fuselage assembly.

The stiffeners (F-01486A-R and F-01486B-R) get clecoed to the right side skin after that.

There are two angle stiffeners (F-01473A) that get clecoed into position near where the inspection covers go on the right and left side of the aft fuselage.....I'm running out of clecos!

Next comes the really fun part....now you have to remove all of the clecos that are holding bulkhead (F-01410) to the aft fuselage bottom skin (F-01478) in order to slide the aft bottom skin "tailskid" assembly (F-01479) onto the aft fuselage assembly.

*You will actually find that you have to remove more than just those clecos in order to get the "tailskid" skin into place.
Also keep in mind that there is a specific order that all of the skins and stiffeners have to be in as well.

Unfortunately the plans aren't very clear about what that order is so I had to give Van's a call to get everything correct....third time's a charm!

Here is what Van's said the correct order is: skin (F-01479) overlaps skin (F-01478), side skins (F-01473-R and F-01473-L) overlap skin (F-01479).
Stiffeners (F-01486B-L and F-01486B-R) overlaps skin (F-01479) on the inside and the tabs of bulkhead (F-01412) sets inside the channel of longerons (F-01418B-L and F-01418B-R).

This is what it looks like on the right side.

This is what it looks like on the left side.

After we received the Quick Build fuselage kit I noticed that there were machining marks on the landing gear braces (U-01402).
While waiting for my wife to help me rivet the aft fuselage side skins (F-01473-L and F-01473-R) to the aft fuselage assembly I decided to dress out the marks and prepare the braces for priming.
The small machining "gouges" were located in the rounded corners of the braces and I double checked with Van's Aircraft to verify that filing out the marks was the right thing to do....they agreed.

*It really does help to have two people to rivet those side skins to the fuselage assembly.

This photogragh shows the landing gear brace (U-01402) and the area I am talking about. This is after the marks have been "dressed out" using a small round file.

Meanwhile back at the aft fuselage side skins....

There are a number of holes that do not get riveted at the time the side skins and lower aft fuselage assemblies get attached to the aft fuselage assembly so we marked all of the holes with masking tape so that we didn't accidentally rivet something that we weren't supposed to.
That is why you see all of the masking tape in this photogragh.

Figure 1 on page 10-17 and figures 1 and 2 on page 10-19 show the rivet callouts and also the rivet holes that don't get riveted at this time so be sure to take note here!

We started out by riveting bulkheads (F-01410) and (F-01411) to the the bottom aft fuselage skin (F-01478) and lower aft fuselage "tailskid" (F-01479) skin using our 3x riveting gun and tungsten bucking bars to set AN426AD3-4 rivets.
We started in the center and worked outwards towards the edges as described in steps 3 and 4 on page 10-17 of the builder's manual.

*The rivet callout says to use AN426AD3-3.5 rivets in the areas of bulkhead (F-01411) and bulkheads (F-01412A and F-01412B) but we found that the 3-3.5 rivets were just too short for our comfort zone so we used AN426AD3-4 rivets instead.

It is really tight spaces here so take your time!

Let the aft fuselage side skins (F-01473-L and F-01473-R) riveting begin!

We started off near where the static port is near bulkhead (F-01407) and worked in a pattern from top to bottom setting (for the most part) AN426AD3-3.5 rivets using our 3x rivet gun and a variety of bucking bars.

*Refer to the rivet callouts in figure 1, page 10-19 of the builder's manual.

According to step 1, page 29-03 of the builder's manual the ends of the landing gear brace (U-01402) does not get primed so I masked off the ends and prepared the brace for priming.

My wife was unavailable today to help me rivet the side skins so back to my side projects.

I also polished the ends of the static ports that we are going to use, they are optional replacements from the standard kit static ports.

As described earlier, the insides of the aft fuselage side skins had to be prepared in order to bond the static ports (Cleavelnad Aircraft Tools part # SPF-140) with tank sealant or RTV adhesive.

This is the left side.

I taped off around the area around where the static port will go so I don't get any extra "goo" spilled.

I put tape over the end of the static port too so tank sealant doesn't get inside.

I used the quick set tank sealant from Van's aircraft to bond the static ports to the left and right aft fuselage side skins.

The tank sealant is part number (MC-240-B1/2) and is supposed to have a pot time of around 30 minutes.

Right side set into place.

Left side set into place.

Polished static port!

Let the sealant cure for a few days.

It's nice because this eliminates the short 1/8" tubing stub that you have to use in the standard static port install and can go directly to 1/4" tubing.

Back to riveting the left and right side skins (F-01473-L and F-01473-R)!

Here's what it looks like on the inside.

Here we are, my wife handles the rivet gun and I hold the bucking bar.
I like to put rags down on the bottom skin to protect it in case I accidently drop the bar.
We are working at the top of the right skin (F-01473-R) inside of the longeron (F-01418B-R).

I "dressed out" the machining marks in the right side landing gear brace (U-01402) and masked off the ends and prepared the part for priming.

I primed the landing gear brace (U-01402) with DupliColor self etching green primer (DAP 1690) just like I did for the left landing gear brace.

I am back to my side project and am starting the debur process on the aft baggage bin bulkhead (F-01406C).

All of the #30 and #40 holes have been final sized using the appropriate reemers, the edges have been deburred, and now it is time to dimple.

I dimpled all of the #40 holes in the flanges of the bulkhead (F-01406C) using our hand squeezer.

The #40 nutplate attach holes and the #30 holes have been dimpled using our DRDT2, the surfaces have been scuffed with ultrafine ScotchBrite pads, and everything wiped down with acetone in preparation for priming.

*Only two #30 holes are dimpled here according to figure 1, page 30-02 of the builder's manual. Make sure that you pay attention to the direction the dimpling has to be oriented too.

I primed the aft baggage bin bulkhead (F-01406C) with DupliColor self etching green primer (DAP 1690).

Now it is time to work on the aft baggage bin right side bulkhead (F-01406A-R).

Take off the blue vinyl!

Shiny!

Now the edge deburring, hole final sizing, and dimpling process follows.

I scuffed the surfaces of the aft baggage bin bulkhead (F-01406A-R) with ScotchBrite ultrafine pads before the dimpling process begins.
The flange that does not get dimpled was marked with masking tape so that I don't dimple it by accident.

I dimpled all of the #40 holes (except as noted in figure 1, page 30-02) using our hand squeezer.

The two holes that aren't dimpled sit inside of the right longeron (F-01418B-R) and that is why they don't get dimpled.
Pay attention to the orientation of the dimples here too.

The #40 nutplate holes get dimpled flush on the aft side of bulkhead (F-01406A-R) as indicated in figure 1, page 30-02 of the builder's manual. I did that with our DRDT2.

There are only two #30 holes that get dimpled on this bulkhead and they get dimpled flush on the forward side. Figure 1, on page 30-02 shows which two holes get the dimple.

*Make sure that you do not enlarge any holes on this bulkhead, that is for the left side only.

After dimpling I washed the bulkhead with acetone in preparation for priming.

I am only priming one side of these bulkheads with green primer because on the cockpit or forward side I will be using a different primer and topcoat paint so I don't want to have any conflicts with painting systems.

I primed the aft side of the aft baggage bin bulkhead (F-01406A-R) with DupliColor self etching green primer (DAP 1690.)

Riveting the aft fuselage side skins (F-01473-L and F-01473-R) to the aft fuselage assembly continues using the rivet callouts as provided in figure 1, on page 10-19 of the builder's manual.

Now it's time to set the bottom row of rivets.

In order to make the job go a little easier we set the fuselage on it's side across two sawhorses.

Most of the rivets will be AN426AD3-3.5 rivets except as noted in figure 1, page 10-19 of the builder's manual.

Another view of our setup. My wife will be handling the rivet gun and I will be doing the bucking.

A view of the "skidplate" area.

Here we go!

Nice!

Now we move on to the next step which is to rivet the right and left rudder stops (F-14113-L and F-14113-R) into place. Sounds simple right? All you have to do is rivet eight AN426AD4-6 and you're done. Well, it wasn't so simple for us; those are pretty big rivets and the work space is very tight. We had to drill out three rivets on the left side here. The angle of the rudder stop interferes with our mushroon set on the top two rivets and we can't get the set to sit flush to the rudder stop (that is why we drilled the rivet out).
Some guys are having success using a 1/2" x 5 1/2" flush straight set and some just use CherryMax rivets here.

I ordered both the straight set and the rivets. I checked with Van's Aircraft and they said either way is acceptable.
The CherryMax rivets I ordered were CR3212-4-3 which I determined by using a CherryMax measuring tool.

I am waiting on the parts to arrive.

There are twelve K1000-06 nutplates to be installed (six on each side) of the aft fuselage assembly.

*Take note that none of the nutplates installed on the longerons (F-01418B-L and F-01418B-R) are to be dimpled.
The two K1000-06 nutplates located at the very aft end of the aft fuselage assembly are supposed to be dimpled.




Also take note that there are two CCR-264SS-3-2 blind rivets to be used near bulkhead (F-01410), one on each side, as shown by the red arrow in this photogragh.

The rest of the rivets to attach the nutplates are AN426AD3-4 rivets which we set using the 3x rivet gun and a tungsten bucking bar.

We are waiting to hear fron Van's Aircraft to see if we can substitute two CR3212-4-3 CherryMax rivets for the two AN426AD4-6 rivets called for in the plans because the space is pretty tight in the angle portion of the rudder stops (F-14113-L and F-14113-R) and it would be easier to use a blind rivet here.

We are also waiting to hear from Van's to see if we can substitute a MK-319-BS rivet in the aft most hole that will attach the (F-01473A) angle stiffeners to the side skins because as you can see from this photograph the spacing between the hole and the rudder stop is close.

Snap bushings were installed into the aft fuselage assembly using figure 1, page 10-21 of the builder's manual as a reference so that the orientation of the bushings were correct.

*Don't forget to cut a slit in each bushing before you install them because the ends of the cables that will be installed later won't fit into the bushing without spreading the bushing first.
Also don't fully seat the bushings into the bulkheads yet...they are tricky to get back out of the holes if you need to open them up to get the cables through, wait until the cable has been routed and then seat them.

You can see the bushings in this photograph at the bottoms of the bulkheads, this is where the rudder cable will be routed through.

The rudder cable is to be routed through the bulkheads starting from the aft end of the fuselage assembly and working forward. This is part number (CS-00014).

The rudder cables (CS-00014) have plastic sleeves on one end and no plastic sleeve on the other end. The plastic sleeve is to be located at the forward end of the airplane.

Don't do this!

This is the correct way to route the rudder cable (CS-00014).

Start by routing the rudder cables (CS-00014) through the slots at the aft end of the aft fuselage side skins (F-01473-L and F-01473-R), forward through the snap bushings in bulkhead (F-01410), through the snap bushings in the rudder cable bracket (F-14115), and forward through the snap bushings in bulkhead (F-01407).

This shows the cables as they are routed through the snap bushings in the bulkheads.

*You'll note that the rudder cables cross to opposite sides at the rudder cable bracket (F-14115) located on bulkhead (F-01408).

Here is an overhead shot where you can see the rudder cables crossing near bulkhead (F-01408) to opposite sides in the aft fuselage assembly.

After the rudder cable has been routed to the front of the fuselage, the extra length is temporarilly coiled and stowed behind bulkhead (F-01406B).

The next step is to prepare the rudder cable guides (F-01497A and F-01497B) before they are riveted into place on the aft fuselage side skins.

The #30 holes in the rudder cable guides (F-01497A and F-01497B) were machine countersunk to accept a dimpled skin.

I just put a #30 pilot countersink end into my debur tool and did the countersinking by hand.

Here is what it looks like (from the inside) when the rudder cable guides (F-01497A and F-01497B) are clecoed in place.

I riveted the rudder cable guides (F-01497A and F-01497B) using our CherryMax G-27 hand rivet gun to set AACQ4-4 blind rivets which are backed up with NAS1149FN416P washers.

This is what it looks like on the outside...

This is what it looks like on the inside.

Time to install the left and right static lines.

I elected to use Cleaveland Aircraft Tools Static line plumbing kit (SPF-KITW) which included the aluminum static ports, 1/4" static line, and push on tee fittings in place of the static system that came standard with the kit from Van's.

The lines are routed the same way as the plans state but use fewer parts and is just nicer in appearance and easier to work with.

Static lines installed!

The extra static line is coiled and stowed behind bulkhead (F-01406B).

The arrow shows where the rudder cables cross over at bulkhead (F-01408).

The UAT cable (WH-00014) is routed forward through bulkheads (F-01410, F-01408, and F-01407) and the associated snap bushings using figure 1, on page 10-23 of the builder's manual as a reference.

*Don't forget to leave 3 5/16" extend aft of bulkhead (F-01410) before the cable ties are tightened, be careful to not make these too tight. (The extra length is measured from the web of the bulkhead to the tip of the cable end.)

I labeled this cable "XPDR" on both ends, never know when that labeling will come in handy. The remaining cable is then coiled and stowed behind bulkhead (F-01406B).

The ELT cable (WH-00015) was routed from the aft section of the fuselage through bulkhead (F-01408,) through the snap bushings to bulkhead (F-01407).

*Don't forget to leave an extra 11" of cable to extend beyond the aft-most tie wrap and then tighten and secure the tie wraps and the cable that is located inside the flanges of the left longeron (F-01418B-L).

I labeled this cable "ELT".

In order to have the inspection covers (F-14112) sit flush to the aft fuselage section the #40 holes in the nutplates (K1100-06) that will be attached to the inspection covers holes in the left and right aft fuselage skins (F-01473-L and F-01473-R) have to be dimpled.

I dimpled the nutplates with our DRDT2 using a male 3/32" die and a female, reduced diameter 3/32" die. (The reduced diameter female die allows the die to avoid hitting the center nutplate hole that receives the number six screw.)

*The top two nutplates (K1100-06) on each side of the skins where the inspection cover sits do not need to be dimpled because later these will be machine countersunk due to the fact that they are "nested" within the left and right longerons (F-01418B-L and F-01418B-R).

After I dimpled the nutplates I clecoed them into position on the left and right aft fuselage skins.

I dimpled the holes in the inspection covers to accept a number six screw.

*The two inspection covers will be left and right oriented so make sure to figure out which is which and lable them so you don't get them mixed up and make two lefts or two rights!

To further avoid confusing the left and right inspection covers, I also primed the insides and labeled them. The primer used is Tempo A702 green primer.

The remaining rivets of the left and right rudder stops (F-14113-L and F-14113-R) were installed.

*Remember these were the hard to reach rivets that we asked Van's Aircraft if we could use substitute CherryMax CR3213-4-3 flush blind rivets instead of the AN426AD4-6 rivets called out in the plans. Van's approved the substitution.

We installed the CherryMax rivets with our G-27 hand rivet gun.

The K1100-06 nutplates were installed in the left and right aft fuselage skins.

We used AN426AD3-4 rivets which were set using our 3x rivet gun and a tungsten bucking bar to install the nutplates.

This is what it looks like on the inside.

This is what it looks like on the outside.

The top two holes where the inspection plate will be screwed into need to be machine countersunk now because this is the area I was talking about earlier where the nutplates are "nested" behind the left and right longerons (F-01418B-L and F-01418B-R).

The top two holes were machine countersunk to receive a number six screw in a dimpled inspection cover skin.

This is what it ends up looking like when the inspection cover (F-14112) is screwed into place.

MS24693-S28 screws are used to hold the inspection cover in place.

These have to be ordered separately, as well as the K1100-06 nutplates used for the flush inspection plate cover install....see step 3, page 10-20 in the builder's manual.

The angle stiffeners (F-01473A) were also installed to the left and right aft fuselage skins (F-01473-L and F-01473-R) using AN426AD3-3.5 set with our 3x rivet gun and a tungsten bucking bar.

*The very bottom aft-most rivet in the angle stiffener had a rivet substitution however which was approved by Van's Aircraft. We substituted a AN426AD3-3.5 rivet with a MK-319-BS flush blind rivet due to the tight spaces, inside and out, which was set using the G-27 CherryMax rivet gun.

The aft deck (F-01414), the deck angle (F-01412C),the horizontal stabilizer attach bar (F-01411D), and the bulkhead (F-01409) were clecoed to the aft fuselage assembly.

The horizontal stabilizer attach bar support angle (F-01411D) and the (F-01411C) attach bar were clamped together so that the two #30 holes could be match drilled into the horizontal stabilizer attach bar support angle (F-01411D) as shown in figure 3, page 10-27 of the builder's manual.

Space is tight here with the clecos holding everything in place so I elected to use the 90° drill attachment to match drill these two #30 holes.

Let the match drilling begin!

After match drilling the #30 holes, the horizontal stabilizer attach bar support angle (F-01411D) was removed and all the newly drilled holes were deburred.

The two #40 holes and the two #30 holes of the bulkhead (F-01412B) were also match drilled into the deck angle (F-01412C) and were then deburred.

It's now time to start riveting the aft deck (F-01414) to the aft fuselage assembly.The rivet callouts are shown in figure 2, page 10-27 of the builder's manual.

The bulkhead frame (F-01409) was riveted into place using our pneumatic squeezer setting AN470AD4-4 rivets. The flush AN426AD3-3.5 rivets were set next using our hand squeezer. Most of the rest of the rivets were set using our 3x rivet gun and a variety of bucking bars....it is nice to have two people setting these rivets because some of the spaces are tight!

While I was waiting for my rivet partner (wifey) I started to peel off the blue vinyl from the bulkhead (F-01406A-L).

Let the deburring and work begin!

The first step is to enlarge the .191" hole to 3/4" in the bulkhead (F-01406A-L) using a step drill.

*Only the left baggage bin bulkhead (F-01406A-L) gets this hole enlarged to 3/4".

This is what I used to enlarge the hole.

Here is the hole after it has been enlarged.

Back to riveting the aft deck (F-01414) to the aft fuselage assembly.

The red arrow points to a spot that is pretty tight to get a bucking bar into so we are waiting to see from Van's Aircraft if we can substitute a CherryMax CR3213-4-2 here.

Spaces are tight in this area too but if you have a 3" and 1.5" yoke, you can set a lot of the rivets with a hand squeezer.

We used both the hand squeezer and 3x rivet gun to set these rivets.

Back to work on the side projects....

I scuffed all of the surfaces of the baggage bin bulkhead (F-01406A-L) with ultrafine Scotch Brite pads in preparation for priming.

The #40 holes in the flanges of the baggage bin bulkhead were dimpled with our hand squeezer.

*There are two #40 holes in the flange that do not get dimpled. They are specified in figure 1, page 30-2 of the builder's manual so make sure you put some masking tape over them or something to remind you not to accidentally dimple them!

This area sits inside of the aft fuselage left longeron (F-01418B-L).

Also take care to notice which direction the dimples are supposed to go on this bulkhead.

I used masking tape to remind me not to dimple this tab.

I washed the baggage bin bulkhead (F-01406A-L) with acetone and then masked the bulkhead off just like I did for the right side. I plan to prime the aft side of the bulkhead with green primer but leave the forward side bare for now and prime it later when I prime and topcoat the inside of the cockpit and fuselage.

I primed the aft side of the baggage bin bulkhead (F-01406A-L) with Duplicolor self etching green primer (DAP 1690).

We got word back from Van's Aircraft that it would be okay to replace the aft-most rivets that attach the left and right angle stiffeners (F-01473A) to the left and right aft fuselage skins with MK-319-BS blind rivets so that is what we did.

We only did this because of the tight spaces here near the rudder stops because we were afraid that we might "ding things up".

This is another tight spot that we got permission from Van's Aircraft to substitute a CherryMax CR3213-4-2 for the AN470AD4-4 which is near bulkhead (F-01410).

We determined the length of what CherryMax rivet to use by measuring the depth with our CherryMax Grip gauge.

We set the rivet with our G-27 CherryMax rivet gun.

Here's another view.

Don't go overboard with blind rivets in this area because only one on each side is okay, but only one!

I set the two corner AN470AD4-7 rivets in the corners of the deck angle (F-01412C) with a hand squeezer equipped with a 3" yoke.

I'll have to switch the 3" yoke on the hand squeezer to a 1.5" yoke in order to set the remaining rivets.

I was able to set these middle rivets that are between bulkhead (F-01411) and bulkhead (F-01412A) using the hand squeezer equipped with the 1.5" yoke.

We are going to have to set the remaining seven rivets with our 3x rivet gun and a bucking bar.

*The rivet callouts are on page 27, figure 2 of the builder's manual.

Setting these seven rivets finishes up securing the aft deck (F-01414) to the aft fuselage assembly.

We set these rivets using our 3x rivet gun and a tungsten bucking bar. The rivets are AN470AD4-6 and AN426AD4-5 rivets.

*These are the last two center rows of rivets that you see in the photograph.

TahDah!....aft deck secured!

Next the wires have to be finish routed through the aft deck (F-01414) as per figure 3, page 10-27 of the builder's manual.

Wires P725, TP724, and phone cable WH-00059 have to be routed through a snap bushing (SB625-7) which is then seated into the aft deck (F-01414).

After the wires are routed they are to be temporarilly to the aft deck.

C409P is then set into position in the aft deck (F-01414).

The tie wraps were tightened and the ends clipped for a neat appearance.

The loose ends of all of the cables were coiled and stowed behind bulkhead (F-01406B)

I mocked up the aft top skin (F-01475 with the upper aft fuselage rib (F-14131), the J-stiffener (F-01486F), and the skin doubler (F-01475A) to insure all fit well together.

I am going to use my extra long homemade back rivet plate to back rivet these pieces together.

There are several holes that do not get riveted at this time so I put masking tape over them so as not to accidentally rivet them.

*See page 10-29 in the builder's manaul for the holes that need to be masked off and also for the rivet callouts.

I started out by riveting the J-stiffener (F-01486F) to the aft fuselage top skin (F-01475) setting AN426AD3-3.5 rivets set with the normal length back rivet set in our 3x rivet gun.

I am using a couple pieces of plywood to support the long top skin which would normally be sagging quite a bit because of the long back rivet plate which is under the area where I am riveting. It just helps keep the whole surface a bit more even and level.

The next piece to be riveted into place is the upper aft rib (F-14131) but in order to clear the flanges of the rib it was necessary to use a 12" extension back rivet set in our 3x rivet gun.

AN426AD3-3.5 rivets were used to rivet the upper aft rib (F-14131) to the aft top skin (F-01475) accept in the area where the upper aft rib (F-14131), the skin doubler (F-01475A), and the aft top skin (F-01475) intersect each other. In this area AN426AD3-4 rivets are used.

Here it is all together.

The vertical stabilizer needs to be temporarily mounted to the aft fusealage assembly as described in step 1, page 10-28 of the builder's manual.

The reason for attaching the vertical stabilizer to the aft fuselage assembly with one #30 cleco and four AN3-6A bolts, NAS1149F0363P washers, and generic nuts is so that two holes in the vertical stabilizer can be #12 final match drilled into the bulkhead (F-01412) and deck angle (F-01412C).

*Be sure to support the forward end of the vertical stabilizer because there isn't anything up there yet to keep it from sagging!

Here we are final drilling those two #12 holes into the bulkhead (F-01412) and the deck angle (F-01412C).

*Be sure to drill accurately and perpandicular to the vertical stabilizer spar.

Take note of the box and the area that I used to help support the forward end of the vertical stabilizer. I also taped a bit of masking paper under where the drilling is so that none of the drill shavings drop down into the bottom of the fuselage.

These are the final #12 holes. They were deburred after drilling.

The left aft fuselage top skin (F-01474-L) was clecoed onto the aft fuselage assembly.

There are several holes that do not get riveted at this time so we used masking tape to identify them so that we didn't inadvertently rivet them.

*Figure 1, on page 10-30 of the builder's manual shows which holes do not get riveted and also the rivet callouts.

We began riveting the left top skin (F-01474-L) to the aft fuselage assembly starting at the middle and working our way upwards and outwards. We used a 3x rivet gun equipped with a swivel mushroom set and a variety of bucking bars to set the rivets.

*We found that in the areas of where the top skins overlapped the longerons and the lower side skins the AN426AD3-4 rivets callouts were okay, but AN426AD3-4.5 rivets were even better.

Likewise, in the areas where the top skins, lower skins, longerons, and bulkheads intersected one another, AN426AD3-5 rivets worked better than the AN426AD3-4.5 rivets called for in the plans.

AN426AD3-3.5 were used in the remaining areas above the longeron line.

Finished riveting the left top skin (F-01474-L). The taped off areas are where the plans indicate the holes should not be riveted. Some of the holes will be riveted later in either the fuselage joining or when the top skin will be put into place.

The right top skin (F-01474-R) was clecoed onto the aft fuselage assembly.

Here we are riveting the right top skin (F-01474-R) to the aft fuselage assembly.

Just like we did on the left side, we did the same on the right side.

Finished riveting the right top skin (F-01474-R) to the aft fuselage assembly.

Here is what it looks like on the inside, I put old t-shirts on the bottom skin just in case something slipped....didn't want to damage all that pretty metal!

The top skin assembly (F-01475) was clecoed onto the aft fuselage assembly.

I built some temporary supports so that I could bridge my weight over the top of the inner bulkheads, I didn't want to get anything bent inside because no matter how you look at it , someone has to crawl inside of the aft fuselage to do the bucking part of the rivet process.

I also cut some plywood to span the bottom stiffeners of the inner fuselage in order to evenly distribute my weight.

It took some time to build but it was well worth the effort!

We set the aft fuselage assembly on the floor to make the fuselage stable and much easier for me to crawl inside to handle the bucking bars while my wife handled the 3x rivet gun equipped with a swivel mushroom set on the outside.

We started at the front and worked our way aft.

Going into the doghouse now!

It helps to have some pillows all over, got to make it at least a little bit comfortable!

The "bridge cradle" worked well.

Getting deep within the fuselage now.

It really is tight back here!

The top skin is rivet onto the aft fuselage!

Nice.

The toughest part about riveting the top skin (F-01475) (for me) was at the intersection of bulkhead (F-01407) and the top aft rib (F-14131).There are three AN470AD4-4 rivets called out to join the two pieces. I was able to set the bottommost solid rivet with our pneumatic squeezer but had to substitute the top two rivets with CherryMax CR3213-4-2 rivets due to the tight space. The CherryMax rivets are extremely strong and according to the EAA can be directly substituted for solid rivets of the same size.

Well, there it is, all of the skins have been riveted on and the empennage kit is completed, now the next thing to do is transport it to our hangar to be joined to the front half.

I made some cradles so that we can transport the empennage to the airport.