Rudder trailing edge done!

Pictures can’t do it justice. This trailing edge turned out absolutely perfect. The long 1/2″-thick slab of cold-rolled steel served well as the back-rivet plate and we followed the plans pretty closely. Only difference was instead of flipping the rudder over and finishing the machine heads with the mushroom set, we decided to do the [...]

Rudder taking shape

Got some excellent work done on the rudder this week. I primed the stiffeners and anywhere two pieces will touch with NAPA 7220. Then I got my first experience with back-riveting. I really enjoyed it. The enormous slab of steel I bought at a local shop did the trick as a back-rivet plate and the [...]

Deburring, dimpling and drywall delivery

Super bowl Sunday and we are all snowed in. We have about ten inches on the ground. It snowed all weekend but today was a beautiful day to dig out. Last night, I took all of the rudder components – ribs, spar and skins – inside the house and sat down in the family room [...]

We’re rolling again!

It’s been nearly 5 months since my last post, so here’s a recap: I moved the project to a hangar at Newark (KVTA) in September.  As it started getting cold, I didn’t get much work in on the project.  I spent the month of October laid up sick.  We had a new baby in October. [...]

Rudder Started

I was so motivated after getting the Vertical Stabilizer put together that I got a lot done on the rudder this weekend.  In between work and a fantasy football draft, I got both the skins and all the parts deburred.  Then, I assembled the ribs – they are each made of two stiffeners riveted together [...]

Vertical Stabilizer Finished!

Over the last week I was able to make some great progress.  I bought a couple of cans of NAPA 7220 Primer at the store in Reynoldsburg (the folks there gave excellent service).  I had decided that I would simply prime the areas where the aluminum pieces would touch each other, simply adding another minimal [...]

VS Ready for Primer & Riveting

We’ve made some good progress in the last couple of weeks.  I got a C-frame dimpler and table kit from Cleaveland Tools.  The table is extremely helpful because it keeps the piece of aluminum perpendicular to the dimple dies when I’m dimpling.  This makes sure the dimples are nice and crisp.  With two not-so-hard whacks [...]

Building confidence

This week I had the opportunity to go help fellow EAA chapter 9 member Mike Cencula work on his RV-7a. He needed some help so I decided what better way to gain some experience? Another RV builder John Bowen met us and the three of us had a lot of fun. I drove my first [...]

VS Is taking shape

Last night and today I made some good progress. I finished both the left and right VS spar caps and final-drilled them to the rear spar and the rear spar doubler. Then I countersank the appropriate holes in the doubler so I can finish those with flush rivets as called for by the plans. Then [...]

Working on VS

At this point, any progress is good progress. So I figured I’d post a picture of my progress tonight. I drilled all the holes in the left and right rear spar caps and I got halfway done drilling one of the flanges.