Jul 4 – Jul 19, 2016
Wasn’t too thrilled with the first vertical stabilizer I built last year. The skin rivets weren’t flush. With more practice, some new tools, and a little guidance from more experienced builder friends, I was convinced I could do better. Ordering the new parts was a snap with Van’s online ordering. And, total cost was less than $300.
The finished results is much improved over the first attempt.
Vertical Stab (v2.0) finished!
Main and nose root ribs to vertical stab forward spar. I riveted these last and couldn’t do a decent job with a squeezer or a gun. So, I elected to go with the Cherry Max structural blind rivet. These CR3213-5-2 rivets will do the job just fine.
Vertical Stab all match-drilled and ready for disassembly, dimpling, deburring, and priming, prior to final assembly.
Vertical Stab rear spar final assembly. A couple of those rivets on the hinges were a bit a a pain!
