July 2nd, 2011

Still finishing up the rudder. I riveted the trailing edge on Monday. Definitely the most nerve wracking thing I've done so far given the dire warnings of warped or bowed trailing edges and nightmares with proseal,etc.

Decided to go with T-88 since it's listed as an option in the plans, is cheaper, by all accounts a good epoxy, and I could get it at Woodcraft. I didn't want to waste 6 ounces of proseal on the trailing edge.

From Dale's RV Project - Empennage

Glued in the AEX wedge Sunday. Here's what it looked like epoxied up and clecoed to a big piece of angle to hold it all straight while it cures.

From Dale's RV Project - Empennage

Riveted it up Monday evening after letting the epoxy cure for 24 hours. Came out really straight, but I'm not wild about a gap I have in the trailing edge.

From Dale's RV Project - Empennage

Here's the gap. It's about 3/32 at it's widest. Talked to Jeff about it Wednesday. I'll run it out to CPK. He's pretty sure we can clean it up so no one will know. Aerodynamically and structurally it's great. Just not as pleasing to the eye as I'd like.

From Dale's RV Project - Empennage

Wednesday I finished up the rudder leading edge, the put the whole thing together just so I could see it all. The balance is incredible. Light as a feather.

From Dale's RV Project - Empennage

Just for grins I stuck it on the horizontal stab on a couple of sawhorses so I could see the whole thing.

From Dale's RV Project - Empennage

June 26, 2011

Spending too much time trying to maintain my real build log (which is required by the FAA) and staying up with this blog. I'm going to start doing one on a weekly basis. More progress to see and I can do it all in one shot.

May make for longer posts though....

Worked on the rudder this week. A couple of weeks ago I *thought* I made a mistake on a part (R-710) that reinforces the rudder bottom rib where it joins the spar. I thought I'd trimmed the piece too tight and thus removed the material that would be attached to the bottom of the rib. Ordered a new part (had to wait about a week for it). I got it early this week and wanted to make sure I didn't repeat my mistake, so I was working with the old part, marking holes and edge distance and such, and after about 5 minutes realized it would work perfectly. :<

Shame on me for not checking this sooner - lost almost a week of building.

This is the offending part (the angled bit with the hole in it)

From Dale's RV Project - Empennage

June 8, 2011

1.5 Hours

Start back riveting stiffeners to rudder skins. Got carried away (not paying attention) w/right side and mounted 2 stiffeners backwards.

Argghh.. had to drill them out. Getting *way* too comfortable with this drilling out business. :)

From Dale's RV Project - Empennage

Rivets held in with rivet tape (orange bit is just plastic, no adhesive). I flip this bit over onto the table and rivet from behind. The rivet gun is on the shop head with a special back rivet set and the factory head is against a big steel plate.

From Dale's RV Project - Empennage

This is what the shop head looks like after back riveting. Pretty easy to get a nice finish, and the factory head is much better as well.

From Dale's RV Project - Empennage

Back riveted skin (stiffener is behind the skin). Makes for an extremely smooth surface.

From Dale's RV Project - Empennage

From Dale's RV Project - Empennage

June 6, 2011

1.5 Hours

Dimple rudder skins and stiffeners.

Dimples are formed in the adjoined parts. This makes the rivet sit flush with skin, and also makes for a much stronger structure because the dimples nest together. It takes more effort, but the results are much better than just riveting with round head rivets. Most production aircraft use round heads. Less labor and cheaper to build.

From Dale's RV Project - Empennage

From Dale's RV Project - Empennage

Example of what a Cessna wing looks like (note the round head rivets).

From Dale's RV Project - Empennage

June 5th, 2011

2 Hours

Deburr the skins and stiffeners.

Prime the stiffeners and skins.

June 4th 2011

Picked up an A/C unit at Sears yesterday. Garage is getting kind of warm and very humid. Spent about 3 hours installing it. I'm getting better at this. Pretty happy with this install. Still need to insulate the inside and put some kind of cover over it so it's good for year around.

2 Hours

Finished cleaning up the cut ends of the left side stiffeners. Clecoed all stiffeners to the skins and match drilled.

From Dale's RV Project - Empennage

From Dale's RV Project - Empennage

Note to self - there are 131 stiffener holes in each skin. :)

Found the stub of a drilled out rivet when I was cleaning up. Getting *way* too much experience drilling those dudes out.

From Dale's RV Project - Empennage

From Dale's RV Project - Empennage

June 3rd, 2011

Ordered the wing kit today. !!!! :)

Below is a picture of the Van's 160HP demonstrator that I got a ride in at KOSH in 2009 and what the slow build kit looks like and what is included.  There is also a quickbuild kit which gets you a nearly completed fuse and wing, but that adds about $10,000 to the kit price.  I'd rather use that money on the engine and avionics than getting done more quickly.

On the floor in front of it is all the parts that are needed to build the aircraft, minus avionics and engine.  There are 4 separate kits which can either be ordered all at once or one by one (I'm ordering them one by one).  The available kits are: Empennage, Wing, Fuselage, and Finish kit.

From Dale's RV Project - Empennage