Empennage - April 2005

18 Hours Spent in April
 
 4/2/2005 7.5h Quite the productive day. Finally the weather and work both let up enough to allow me the opportunity to prime all the parts for the Vertical Stabilizer. I spent a couple hours in the morning cleaning and priming these. I switched to the Tempo Aviation primer that I'd ordered from Aircraft Spruce, and am less than impressed. It's basically the same as the NAPA self-etching gray primer, but the nozzle on the spray can clogs easily. Both cans I used today of the new stuff had the same problem. I think I'm going to switch back to the NAPA stuff. (Pictured on the right.) You'll note in the pictures that I tried an experiment with the skin and primer this time. I left the blue material on the inside and just primed the strips where there are holes. Seems to have worked okay, though the primer flaking off the blue plastic as I peeled it off was a mess.
   
   I also took a little time while I was painting to paint some shelves for Katy. 
 
  After lunch and a few errands out and about, it's back to work. I first flush riveted the doubler to the rear spar. Worked fairly well, then the two rivets on the inside, right next to the brackets caused a problem. I back riveted these, though the squeezer probably would have worked just as well. On the lowest rivet, later in the evening I saw that there was a small gap between the doubler and the spar. More on that later. Following that, I went ahead and hand squeezed the rest of the rivets on the rear spar. I also noticed that I should stop using my plans table to set my air tools. This big print is getting a little dirty.  
   
  Next up was putting the frame together. Nothing fancy here at all.
 
  And finally, putting the skin on. This went fairly easy, though my body started to get creaky after hunching over to get the bucking bar in there for both sides. I still haven't used any help in riveting. I wonder what I'm missing. I did miss again, and put in a few extra rivets for holes that will be used for fairing attachments. I figure these are easy enough to drill out later. All said and done, three drilled out rivets, including that lowest one on the rear spar as discussed earlier, all reset right away, and the vertical stabilizer was done.
 
  I did quick set on that one outstanding rivet on the horizontal stabilizer using the little doubler piece I had cut and primed earlier. Still not great, but it'll do. I know this is not exactly how they fit together, but if you squint, it really starts looking like an airplane tail. Cool.
   
 4/8/2005 Ordered the quick-build kit today. Both the wings and Fuselage, so I'm poor now. In 5-6 months we'll have a new addition to the family! (In addition to the other new addition due at the end of Sept.) 
   
 4/9/2005 .5h Pulled out the parts for the rudder. Additionally I'm doing "research" on the new style rudder, since the Ornoff video and the main sites I've read previously all talk of the old one. Basically an excuse for sitting in front of the computer and surfing the web.
 
 4/16/2005 1.5h In the prime of the day, when I should have been in the garage building, I was again sitting at the computer, dreaming over what I should do with the panel. I put a couple possibilities up under avionics.

I also spent some time in the garage with the rudder, followed by more time on the couch reading the rudder instructions again. I'll need to order some epoxy or Pro-Seal to finish off the trailing edge. This actually looks a lot easier than the old style rudder.
 
 4/17/2005 5h Okay, maybe not a _whole_ lot easier than the old style. Lots of progress today. Started late, but hey, it's the weekend. Began the day spending some quality time with some stiffeners. Using the drawing 7 picture, and the marks on the eight pieces of angle as a guide, using the tin snips, I made the rough cuts.
 
  With a sheet of MDF to protect the table top, I match drilled the stiffeners to the skins.
 
  This also reminded me that I needed to get a better back riveting setup that just the steel plate on top of the table, so I pulled out the old router my dad gave me, and put in the new bit I picked up a month or two ago for this purpose. Came out with a fairly nice looking back riveting surface.
 
  After cleaning up the mess from all that wood shaving, I set to work on the edges of the stiffeners with the scotch-brite pad on the grinder. Took awhile, but I ended up with a couple set of smooth stiffeners, and a slightly gray hand from the aluminum dust. Following this, I deburred all of them. I also took the opportunity to form the R-917 shim from the stock .032 aluminum bar.
 
  About this time, it started hailing outside. Good thing I'm in the dry, relatively warm garage. Following the hail, I took a break for a craving run for Katy. We hit to store and picked up popsicles, ice cream, cookies, peanut butter, and peanut butter cups. Yummy for our tummy. 
 
  Minor scare over missing the reinforcement plates for the bolt attach points on the Rudder spar, only to remember that they were in the parts bins with the rivets and screws. With that crisis averted, I set out to drill the holes in the R-917 previously made.
 
  Finally, I started putting together the skeleton, including fluting the top ribs, and finally clecoing on the skin just to see how it looks to call it a day before I start match drilling to the skin. I've also got a question as to whether the main skin goes under the counterbalance skin, or the other way around.
 
 4/24/2005 2h Not much time in the last week. Between a heavy work load, school, a trip to Babies 'R Us and the sitting on my butt decompressing, I've neglected the rudder. All is not lost though, a somewhat productive couple hours. Completed drilling out the left and right side of the rudder and added the R-918 attach plates for the lower fiberglass cap.
 
 4/30/2005 1.5h Stripped the blue stuff off the insides of the skins and all of the various parts. Followed by more deburring and cleaning up the garage to make more room. (Couple months early for the quick-build.)