Thin-end rivets

Wednesday 30th April 2008 (1hr)

Set last rivets at narrow end of elevator root and tip ribs except for the very last ones. Experimented with techniques for these last rivets.

The long-nose no-hole yoke is the obvious tool for this job and does well up to a point (yes that was a pun) where there is just not enough room for the unsqueezed shop end of the rivet as well as the pointy end of the yoke within the flanges of the rib down near the trailing edge.


On most of them, I was able to get the yoke nose in as long as the rivet was not fully inserted. You are then depending on getting the moving rivet set to push the rivet home as it closes before finally setting the rivet at the end of its travel. To do this, you have to have pretty good trigger control skills to get the squeezer to close slowly. Even then, I found that the skin and rib were not tight to each other at the point where the rivet set enough to grab the inside of the holes. These all had to be drilled out, leaving me with only one of the eight where the results were okay. To make matters worse, if you do happen to get one of these set, the rivet head now restricts the space further for setting the rivet on the surface opposite.


I decided to try the 'lever' method so I put some tape around the end of a piece of flat steel bar that I had. However, this wasn't really stiff enough to set the rivet properly, leading to some more drilled out rivets. I will have to look at using a wide 'bolster' masonry chisel, which should be really hard while still being thin enough to get into the space available. Also, I need a rubber grommet with a thickness closely matching the projecting shop tail of the rivet. Placed over the rivet tail, this will push down on the rib flange making sure that the two materials are in close contact as the rivet 'bites'.

That's it with the project for the moment. I really need to help Dorothy out with the remodelling job so I will have to stop work until that is done and the wings arrive. I still have these rivets to finish plus I haven't rolled the forward edge of the rudder skins. Still, building a plane doesn't mean you are no longer a member of the family and duty calls.

Trim tab hinged.

Saturday 26th April 2008 (2hr 10min)

Bent and cut trim tab hinge pin. Trimmed and fitted elevator counterbalance weights.

Bending the hinge pin is not as easy as you would imagine. I marked where I wanted the centre of the first bend to be and heated the spot with a plumbers buthane blow torch until it was bright orange. By now the mark had dissapeared of course but I guessed that the centre of the heated area was the intended centre of the bend. Using my long -nose pliers, I grabbed the pin to the outside of what I thought was the centre point and twisted it over to create the tightest right-angle bend I could manage. it was surprising how much force it still needed and how quickly it regained its strength as it cooled.

Now, with the pin back in the hinge and the right-angled part hanging down ofer the inboard edge of the elevator, I marked where I wanted the centre of the next bend - about an 1/8th from the trim tab spar. Once again, the mark served only as an aiming point for the blow torch but the bend worked out just fine. It only remained to mark and cut off the unwanted tail and clean up the end on the Scotchbrite wheel. The finished item sits beautifully against the elevator trim spar.

I would like to have done as builders of other models have done and use one 'ear' from the hinge scrap screwed into a nutplate to hold the hinge wire in place. However, there does not seem to be enough space for the nutplate at the end of the trim spar on the forward side so I will probably have to just safety wire it as per the plans. I will leave this until later in case I think of some way around the problem.

The trim tab bottom skin's forward edge was interfering with the aft edge of the bottom skin and spar of the elevator, so I needed to bend this upward so that it just cleared this obstruction when the trim tab is deflected downward. I found the best way of doing this was to take the trim tab off and bend the entire length of the skin edge at the same time by pressing it against my bench.

I have heard of builders having problems in sawing the counterbalance weights because the band saw blade starts melting the lead. I saw no sign of this problem, maybe because my blade travels slower or because of the 16 tpi pitch. I did need to file some material from the top and bottom edges of the weights to get them to fit inside the flanges and rivets of the counterbalance arm webs. I hope this will not be a problem when it comes to balancing the elevators at final assembly. The weights are supposed to be too heavy so that material is removed rather than added in order to achieve balance.
I torqued up the nuts to 25 in-lbs and used Loctite to secure them.

Trim tab hinge

Tuesday 22nd April 2008 (1hr 15min)


Riveted hinge to trim tab skin and top spar flange. Match-drilled hinge to left elevator trim spar.

I used my air squeezer for the easy job of putting in the solid rivets to join the hinge, spar and top skin. The other part of the hinge had not yet been trimmed to length at this stage.

You can see from the paint on my overalls that I have already begun to get involved in the remodelling job in our reception rooms. Dorothy started on this a few weeks ago and it has long been planned that I would join in for the six to eight weeks that the wing kit will be en route to get here. In fact, the kit is already shipped so I am racing to get the emp finished quickly before Dorothy gets to the bits that she can't do on her own.

Next, I joined the two halves of the hinge and positioned the trim tab and hinge on the elevator, using a level as a straight edge to align the trailing edges. It's nice to have the inboard edges match up but it is more important to get the minimum 3/32 inch clearance in the gap between the outboard edge of the trim tab and the adjoining edge of the elevator trailing edge. I just about got away with it as the bend of the end tabs of the trim tab are not razor sharp so the ends bulge out a tiny bit further than they should, adding slightly to the overall length.

I clamped the hinge to the underside of the elevator trim spar at the inboard end only, using an edge-clamp cleco. This held things well enough to match-drill the first hole. From there, I just put clecos in every hole as it was drilled. I felt no need to support the hinge up under the trim spar along its full length for this operation.

Once finished, I drew out the pin and cut off the extra length of the hinge, leving a margin which I filed back flush with the inboard edge of the elevator and then polished up with the scotchbrite 1" wheel in the die grinder.

Rudder Trailing Edge Riveting

Sunday 20th April (4hr 45min)

Riveted rudder and left & right elevator trailing edges. Pop-riveted trim tab end tabs and trim tab horn. Match-drilled hinge to trim tab upper skin & spar and cut to length.

It is a week now since 'tank sealant day' so I went back to work and began by removing the clecos and cleaning the little stray bits of solidified tank sealant out of the dimples and holes. The edges are still laser-straight at this stage but it is the riveted end-product that counts. I did notice one place where the tank sealant was lifting the skin off the trailing edge wedge very slightly. Obviously, this was close to the end of the sealing job when the sealant was getting very stiff and lumpy and difficult to spread.

The idea here is to half set each rivet with a back-riveting set, flip it over and then finish by riveting on the manufactured head with a mushroom set. In the event, I was not very comfortable with the back-rivet set and decided to try the air squeezer with the gap set to squeeze each rivet just enough to fix it in place. I found this easier although I had to be careful to exert enough pressure on the manufactured head with the non-moving side of the squeezer to ensure it was fully seated in its dimple before it was fixed in place. I worked on every fifth rivet from the centre out and then went back to do the rest randomly.

I was very pleased with the results. I would call it perfect if it were not for that little bump caused by tank sealant and I think the edge material is microscopically dented by the action of the rivet set at each rivet site. It certainly no longer looks like pristine new aluminium sheet but I think paint will hide that completely.

Another anxiety-causing job off the list!

With time on my hands, I went on to pop rivet the control horn to the trim tab. If I had not forgotten this step before 'tank sealant day', I could have easily done these with solid rivets using the longeron yoke. In fact, I should also have solid riveted the bottom skin-spar join at that stage so that will also have to be pop-riveted. The manual quotes MK-319-BS pop rivets as an alternative here. However, I don't have enough of these rivets to cover all locations where they are called out or are an option. I will have to get 30 more from Vans.

I also put pop rivets into the ends of the trim tabs and match-drilled the hinge to the underside of the top flange of the spar. I got this dead wrong first time but fortunately caught my mistake before I had cut the hinge so I was able to re-position the hinge and match-drill again. The first set of holes won't do any harm and can be regarded as 'lightening' holes - if they are ever noticed in such a well-hidden location.

Trailing edges sealed

Saturday 12th April 2008 (5hr 40min)

Attached 2nd aluminium angle to edge of bench. Positioned HS and elevator assembly with counterbalance arms in line. drilled trailing edges to angle and clecoed. Cleared bench for rudder and rearranged shop. Cleaned AEX wedge of elevators. Cleaned skins inside trailing edge. Mixed tank sealant. Sealed in trailing edge in left and right elevators, sealed foam ribs into trim tab.
With the entire HS/elevator assembly in place on the worktables, I attached the remaining part of the aluminum angle I had bought (the first part was used on the rudder) under the trailing edge of the left elevator (now located on the right, as the assembly is upside down to allow the elevator control horns to stick up rather than down) One of the counterbalance arms had initially been about 1cm out of alignment but by the time everything was weighed down and the trailing edge clamped to the angles, it was all perfectly aligned again. I match-drilled through the trailing edge into the aluminium angle, putting a cleco in every hole. I worked from the centre outwards as I feel this is more likely to avoid any waves or curves in the trailing edges.

My drill press, bench grinder and band saw had to be cleared off the third worktable to create space for the rudder. These machines are attached to a second work surface which is cut into three sections, one for each machine. These usually just lie side by side on the worktable relying on the weight of the machines to keep them steady. I can clamp them to the work surface if I need to. Other than lifting the heavy drill press and band saw carefully for the sake of my back, it was easy to get them down off the worktable. I was pretty happy with the arrangement and pleased that I had gone to the trouble of installing them this way. BTW, the space under the table is taken up with my compressor. It is lined with two layers of scrap carpet and the front panel is removable. The compressor is an oiled belt-driven model and is fairly quiet anyway, but with this extra insulation, it makes only a little more noise than our kitchen fridge.

Before starting this morning, I went out to buy a length of wooden dowel. I used this to spread the skins slightly at the trailing edge (this is why the last three rivets at the narrow ends of the root and tip ribs are left open until now). I cleaned everything as well as I possibly could with methylated spirit, including the site of the foam ribs on the inside of the trim tab skin. Once the wedge with the sealant spread on them is in place, the dowel rod is drawn out sideways allowing the skins to close on the wedge.

Mixing the tank sealant in the cartridge took some figuring out but I got it done. I recorded the process on video with a view to posting it on Youtube after I edit it down to about 3-5 minutes. It takes quite a lot of strength to move the plunger up and down through the material in the cartridge. I wonder whether it was A) too cold (I stored it in a fridge) or B) too old. Also, once mixed, it was nowhere near as smooth as I had hoped and really quite difficult to spread on the AEX wedge surfaces. The trouble with this stuff is that once you start there is no turning back so I pressed on. I spread it as thinly as I could on the foam ribs and wedges, put them in place and clecoed and clamped them shut. By the time I got to the last trailing edge (the left elevator) the material was already clearly going off so I got the job finished just in time. I reckon it was useable for not much more than an hour after mixing. How you are supposed to carefully apply 3.5 oz of really thick muck within an hour, I really don't know. I suppose you could say that I am no longer a Proseal 'virgin' and the experience has left me feeling dirty (in fact, I am actually dirty). I will not be using the cartridge format again.

Anyway, that's it for a week until I am certain that the tank sealant has fully cured.

Elevators attached

Monday 7th April 2008 (2hr 20min)

levelled 2 benches, attached left and right elevators to HS. Checked for true.

There seem to be two risks in finishing the elevator trailing edges. the first is that you produce a hooked or wavy edge and the second is that you build in a twist so that one elevator counterbalance horn is out of trail with the HS (either high or low) when the other horn is perfectly aligned with its HS and the trailing edges are also perfectly aligned. This twist is locked in by riveting the tip ribs and trailing edges and the solution seems to be to drill out these rivets and allow the elevators to 'relax' into alignment. I planned to avoid this by having the HS and both elevators assembled and aligned while I riveted the trailing edge.

Today, I began to implement this plan. I reversed the heavy aluminium angle that I have set into the top and edge of one worktable so that the vertical flange was screwed to the side of the table and the horizontal flange was flush with the top and extending out from it. Then I attached both elevators to the HS (BTW, there seems to be plenty of space to get the bolts in if your fingers are in any way nimble). I propped up the front of the HS with some timber under its forward spar until everything was 'in trail'. With one counterbalance clamped to the HS, the other was initially just 1cm or so out of true

This was the first time I had seen these three parts assembled- the horizontal surface area of the thing is vast!

Elevators to rudder

Sunday 30th March 2008 (3hr 40min)


Pop-riveted right elevator bottom skin to spar. Riveted on right elevator counterbalance skin. Riveted both end ribs to top and bottom skin except last three rivets on each run. Drilled out and replaced faulty rivets in rudder skins. Assembled rudder skins on rudder skeleton. Installed R710 rudder brace. Riveted rudder skeleton to skin.



I borrowed my pal Bryan Sheane's 4" thin-nose-no-hole ("4TNNH"?) yoke and his longeron yoke for the jobs I had to do today. It is becoming clear that these tools are essential, whether you have a hand squeezer and (or) an air squeezer. So, I ordered my own from Avery's. They should be here within 2 weeks by Express parcel post.

The manual and lots of builders sites will give you the impression that pop-rivets are the only solution for at least some of these holes. However, the longeron yoke made short work of them all and every rivet is perfect - Don't hesitate, get yourself one of each of these great tools!

Elevation

Saturday 29th March 2008 (5hr 5min)

Riveted VS skin to forward spar and mid-span rib. Riveted in VS-706 tip rib VS-704 root rib and VS-705 nose rib. Replaced bad rivets in rear spar assembly and riveted it in place. Levelled table, drilled out and replaced bad rivets on left elevator top and bottom skin stiffners. Riveted top skin to the spar. Weighted left elevator and pop-riveted main spar to bottom skin. Riveted E-905 root rib and E-907 trim spar to bottom skin. Replaced faulty rivets in right elevator stiffners.

Dorothy and I continued our riveting partnership by completing the internal skin to spar and mid span rib rivets. I then inserted the two root ribs and completed the riveting of these plus the rear spar and the tip rib after fixing some bad rivets in the rear spar assembly that had been identified in the inspection. Being mostly around the edge of the skin, these rivets were easy. Only the three rivets through the two root rib flanges and the forward spar were a little tricky but the air squeezer easily got these done as the access is much easier that the similar joint at the root of each elevator.

Mick Bevin (my inspector) had suggested replacement of a number of rivets in the elevator stiffners. These had been put in before I realised the importance of adjusting pressure on the rivet gun and I had mashed some rivets by using too much pressure. Drilling out rivets is something you get a lot of practice at and I can generally get them out without touching the hole. Still, the process of setting the original rivet stretches the hole so you need a fatter replacement rivet. One way of making a fat rivet is to pre-squeeze a rivet of the next length up so that the shank expands and shortens. This will fill up the slightly enlarged hole. Doing this with an air squeezer is not easy but it is one way of developing a sensitive trigger finger.

I put on the elevator horn without any problem and then went on to rivet the elevator top skin to the spar. About 3-4 rivets either side of the hinge openings could be reached with the 4in thin-nose yoke.

Next, I weighted the elevator in the closed position with building sand divided among several of Dorothy's freezer food bags. Some people go to great lengths to get solid rivets through the bottom skin into the spar. I just went with the Vans suggestion and pop-riveted the join. Maybe I should have tried harder as the results were not wonderful, with a depression around each rivet. Good thing they are on the bottom. While the elevator was weighed down, I also riveted the root rib to the top and bottom skin and the trim spar to the bottom skin.

The trailing edges did not initially lie exactly on top of each other and had to be pulled into alignment and clamped using side-jaw clecos. This makes we worry about twist. Some builders have reported that they have perfectly straight trailing edges but with the two trailing edges aligned with each other only one elevator horn lines up with its elevator while the other one is well off. The solution seems to be to undo the end rib rivets and/or the trailing edge rivets, get everything into alignment while weighted down and re-rivet. I hope to avoid this by riveting both elevator trailing edges while mounted to the HS assembly and held 'in trail'.

On to the Vertical Stabiliser!

Friday 28th March 2008 (1hr 45min)

Prepared & primed R710 rudder brace. Assembled VS skeleton & skin in blocks.

I seem to be jumping around quite a lot from one assembly to another. A prime example was this evening when I worked on one rudder piece before going on to the vertical stabiliser.

I avoided the previous mistake (not leaving enough edge distance on the R-710) and cut strictly along the line from one guide hole to the next. For sure, there are no edge distance issues this time! After prepping the edges and cleaning/etching, I applied two coats of primer. It was not worthwhile getting out the spray booth for just one part so I used a paint pad to apply the primer. My pal Byran is applying all his primer in this way and is very satisfied with the results. I could see brush marks in the brace after it dried so I think I will stick with spraying. In any case, part of the point in spraying the primer was to acquire good spray painting skills by the time I come to put final coat paint on visible bits such as the cockpit interior.

In assembling the VS skeleton, I departed slightly from the Vans manual (temporarily ignoring the big lesson from last weekend) and followed George Orndorff's method instead. George feels that leaving off the root ribs (both the VS-704 main rib and the VS-705 nose rib) to improve access for rivetting the VS702 main spar and VS-707 mid-span rib to the skins. This could be further improved by also leaving off the VS-706 tip rib except that solid rivets are called for to attach this to the tip of the VS-702 main spar. However, I was determined to stick to somebody's method if not Van's so I riveted the tip rib on as per George's video.

First main assembly completed - at a cost!

Monday 24th March 2008 (7hr)

Riveted R-HS top skin. Riveted inner H904 tip rib on left HS. Replaced rivets on inboard left HS rib-spar-shim-inner nose rib join. riveted outboard right HS nose rib to spar. Riveted in left HS inboard/outboard main rib. Riveted rear spar to skins and inboard/outboard main ribs.

Dorothy joined me again today to finish out the riveting of the skins. We did the right HS top skin and went back over any rivets that did not pass muster.

At this point I made one of my regular screw-ups. I riveted in the inner main ribs, beginning with the skin-rib rivets along the inboard edge of the skin . What I should have done was to begin with the nose rib-spar-shim-main rib rivets while the main rib was still mobile. The reason is that the main rib is angled inwards towards the aft end and it is very hard to get access to its forward flange. If the aft end of the main rib can be pushed back to a 90 degree angle or beyond, it would be easy to get the air squeezer in here, at least with a longeron yoke. As you can see from the first photo, I tried to access it with a double offset rivet set in the gun. This worked okay on 5 of the six rivets (though it caused a lot of scratching to the primer and one or two of them had to be done a second time). However that last rivet in the corner just wouldn't set right. When the third rivet in the same hole bent over, I abandoned it and put a rivet in a new hole right next to it - leaving plenty of edge distance.

What annoyed me most was that I had two chances to avoid this problem and missed both of them. Of course I should have followed the Vans assembly sequence more closely in the first place but, when I came across the difficulty in accessing these six rivets, I should have bitten the bullet and drilled out all the skin-rib rivets to go back to the Vans way of doing it.

I will have to see what the inspector says but if he agrees with my fix then at least the entire unsightly area will eventually be covered by the emp fairing. In the meantime, it is going to be staring at me for the rest of the project and saying "BE VERY CAREFUL IF YOU DEPART FROM THE VANS MANUAL".

Perhaps I should not have done it but I went on and riveted in the aft spar, which carries the elevators. This requires more pop-rivets into the aft flanges of the internal main ribs and solid rivets to the inboard and outboard ribs as well as the trailing edge spar-skin rivets. All of these were easily done with the air squeezer but I was not enjoying the process because of my black mood and barely celebrated the completion of the first recognisable part of the aircraft.

Easter bonnet

Sunday 23rd March 2008 - Easter Sunday (3hr 25 min)

Riveted right bottom HS skin. Riveted in aft spar and left HS 904 tip rib.


Easter fell very early this year - the weekend following St Patrick's day. I suppose we should have taken advantage of it and gone away for a break. However, Dorothy drives to see her mother most Sundays (leaving me to get a long spell of work on the plane) but every Easter her mother goes to visit other relatives and the break that Dorothy wants is NOT to go anywhere. Of course, I was happy to oblige and suggested that we spend an hour or so on the riveting job. Well, that's probably not how she saw her Easter Sunday working out but she was 'up for it' and played her part, if not happily then at least without verbal dissent.

There's been a lot of talk on forums recently about RV divorces. Apparently building an RV often contributes to marriage problems. In my view, no aircraft or any other hobby is worth that much pain and I have no intention of joining the ranks. So I'm trying to strike a balance and keep the project out of the way of family life as much as possible. One idea is to restrict weekend working to just one of the two days and being available either for DIY, shopping or whatever on Saturday, or else ocassionally visiting my mother-in-law with Dorothy on the Sunday - whichever she prefers. Another idea is to take long breaks between the kits. We have been planning a big re-modelling on our reception rooms - which is a project dear to Dorothy's heart. We normally do all of this kind of work ourselves so I intend to begin that when the emp is finished and complete it while the wing kit is on the high seas so that I am ready to start straight in when it arrives.

Anyway, back to today's action. I got the aft spar on and pop-riveted to the internal main ribs. I also put in the solid skin-spar rivets on the trailing edge and riveted in the left tip rib. All of these solid rivets are accessible to the air squeezer, making it easy, pleasant and fast work.

Nose out of joint

Saturday 22nd March 2008 (7hr 10min)

Finished riveting right mid nose rib. Riveted left HS nose ribs. Replaced faulty rivets on forward spar. Assembled both HS with clecos. Pop-riveted internal main ribs to forward spar. Riveted left skin to spars and ribs. checked rivets and replaced faulty ones.










Things went no better with the right mid-span nose rib - some scratches to the internal primer but looks okay from the outside. The scratches are not deep and really only amount to the removal of the primer. I don't see any need to obsess about them. I just applied a little primer with an artists brush and moved on.

Now that it is time for the forward spar, I made an extra set of cradles so that I can support both HS at the same time, with the forward spar (and eventually the aft spar) running between them. I felt this was much better than doing one HS with the spars hanging out in mid air and needing to be supported to avoid unnecessary stresses being into the structure.

Before the forward spar went in, I riveted the "intermediate" main ribs to the aft side of it. These are the ribs that have no nose rib sharing the same rivets. Mine were numbered 1 to 10 from left to right (looking forward) and the ribs involved were numbers 2, 4, 7 and 9. The air squeezer (I'm getting tired of typing "pneumatic") earns its keep here

Next step was to pop-rivet the main rib that goes behind the mid-span nose rib. This gets pop-riveted to the forward spar and the aforementioned nose rib. This required me to angle the main rib to one side (with clecos through two of the three holes) so that I could get the pop rivet puller into position.

My wife Dorothy helped me with shooting the skin rivets on the forward spar and main ribs. She smiled when I asked her for her help as she knew I was reluctant. "Did you think I would say no?" she replied. Dorothy is meticulous in everything she does and I couldn't hope for anyone better as a riveting partner. For someone that is not too thrilled about aviation in general and this project in particular, she did the job like a trooper and we got a very good result.

Good Friday

Friday 21st March 2008 (3hr 50 min)


Levelled benches for HS assembly, Riveted in the mid-span nose ribs and end ribs.











That mid span nose rib on each HS is notorious and regularly causes problems. I chose my smallest bucking bar so that I could position it properly . Even then, I could only hold the bucking bar in place with my finger tips and I could not stop it scratching against the primer on the skin or on the rib itself. Since then, I have seen where another builder cuts one inch rings from an old bicycle inner tube and stretches them over his bucking bars to protect the surrounding metalwork - sounds like a great idea. I used the flat mushroom set in the rivet gun and put some magic tape over the manufactured head.

You can see from the second photo that the primer has been scratched by the bucking bar but the rivets look okay from the outside so I am not too bothered. Nonetheless, I have ordered a new bucking bar from Avery along with a few other items that I need, as this problem will come up again. It won't get here in time for the other HS however.

The end ribs were a piece of cake as all the rivets can be squeezed with the pneumatic squeezer.

First Inspection

Wednesday 19th March


First inspection. All assemblies passed fit for purpose.

My inspector Mick Bevin came along this evening. I had prepared all the assemblies up to the point where the next step involved closing them up and hiding the internal riveting. He went over every rivet, marking pretty much every one that I already knew was dodgy. I had left them there to get a feeling for what would pass and what would not.

We also talked about a number of the big decisions later on in the project such as fuel injection, electronic ignition and wobbly props. Mick is a traditionalist and likes to keep it simple. He pointed out that it is not just the cost of purchasing but the expensive and regular maintenance on some of these systems that you need to watch out for.

He encouraged me to consider getting the tanks built professionally. Another of his 'clients' - a group of Irish Air Corp personnel - had a lot of trouble with leaks and found them very difficult to solve. I had checked the position the last time he mentioned this and found that Vans no longer offer this option but they recommend Evan Johnson who builds them to order in Callifornia. They just ship the parts to him and he ships the finished tanks back to Vans where they are forwarded on to the customer with the rest of the wings order. Based on Mick's urgings, I decided to go with it and got in touch with Evan the same evening. He is a great guy who likes to talk RVs and seemed tickled that two of his tanks would be going so far afield. He is building a 10 of his own.

In the end, he completed my log book without reservation and passed all assemblies fit for purpose. Now I can get on with closing up these beauties.

I won't need to see Mick again until I reach the same stage on the wings - just before I begin to close up any of the parts and hide rivets. At that stage, he will also have a look at the rest of my work on the emp.

Sorry, no photos. I was too excited. I will get Mick's photo the next time he comes around

St Patricks day parade

Monday 17th March 2008 (8hr 15min)

Drilled out and re-riveted faulty rivets from R606pp reinforcement plate, R902 spar, R904 rib, R405PD. Set up for riveting right elevator skin and spar. Riveted right and left elev skins to top of E902 right and left spars. Attached right and left elevator counterbalance assembly to E902 right and left spars. Assembled HS front and rear spars.

Our national holiday and what am I doing? making a plane! Well, that is my kind of holiday. Contrary to the public stereotype, I don't drink much and I drink Guiness only rarely - usually when I feel called upon to prove that I AM Irish.

The long nose yoke was able to reach three to four rivets either side of the hinge openings in the elevators. That left only about a third of the holes along the bottom of the spar to be pop riveted.

Spray set up

27th December 5 hr

Setting up for priming

I got a few hours away from the Christmas festivities today to get ready for the priming operation.

The access to the booth proved a problem because the velcro is so agressive and because,when you pull the sides apart, you are shortening the height of the walls so the floor has to come up. This made getting in and out, particularly in full painting regalia while holding parts, very awkward. Because of this, I taped up the old corner entrance and cut a full-sized roll-up door in one of the side walls. The 'door' was cut from spare Powerclad material as it had to overlap the opening. I re-used the velcor (expensive stuff) tape to fix it to the opening at three points down each side and one across the bottom. This works quite well. When I take the booth down I might consider using a long zip to close the 'door'; just as you would find in a tent. I could then open or close it single handed in one movement.

I found some useful advice on setting up a spray gun in the Stewarts procedures manual and supplemented this with some more information that I found on-line. There was quite a bit of trial and error involved so I taped some newspaper to the inside of the booth and filled the gun with water. Using something with a colour in it would make this trial and error process a lot easier but would create more mess. I didn't want to waste any primer so I just made do. In the end, I got what I thought was a nice narrow vertical oval shaped spray pattern and the liquid seemed to be coming out of the nozzel at a reasonably good rate.

What goes together, must come apart

Wed 21st Nov 2hr 20

Completed R-918 attach strips, fitted and match-drilled them to R-901 skins and R904. Disassembled the rudder and began "DDEP" (Deburr, Dimple, Edge preparation)

Ken Scott replied to an email I had sent Yesterday to Vans support. He says I should replace the HS-902 spar on which some of the countersinks are too deep but the others three spar halves can be used. He also suggested two additional rivets through the skin and stiffeners either side of the double-holes created by mistake when dimpling the stiffeners. I don't like this as I believe the eye will be drawn to the anomaly in the rivet pattern. However the part is very cheap and as I am having a HS-902 shipped across anyway, there will be no additional postage or packing charge. Once they arrive, I can completely eliminate that ding. I also copied my examiner Mick Bevan on this correspondence and he concurs.

Yesterday evening was also the monthly meeting of the SAAC. I always bring a notebook along to record all the useful information and contacts that I get. Yesterday, I got a lead on a torque screwdriver that can handle the very low torque values necessary for the AN3 bolts in the central HS hinge brackets - 20-25 inch pounds. Charles O'Shea also took me through the builders manual that I will be completing with Mick Bevan.

I had already cut the bottom attach strips to length as they come from the same piece as the R-917 shim. As George Orndorff recommends, I cut the two R918 attach strips from the ends of this piece, leaving more than enough for the R917 in the middle. This evening, I cut off the angled ends that butt up to the rudder brace and filed and polished the edges.

They are held in place initially with side-jaw clecos (you need the longer 1" type to reach) and then clecoed as the holes are drilled. The lower holes are not drilled at this stage. The plans simply specify "2" approx spacing" - one of the few places I have seen the abreviation "approx" anywhere on these plans.

Taking the rudder apart took a while as there were so many clecos but that is because I had the stiffners clecoed in as well. I also deburred the skins very lightly.

No photos this evening - The camera is acting up and just could not be persuaded to perform.

Edge prep, Countersinking and Dimpling

Wed. 14th Nov 4hr 20min

Stripped vinyl from VS 901 skin. Deburred and #40 dimpled skin. Deburred, dimpled and edge preped spars. Prepped edges of skins and VS 808PP doubler. Countersunk fwd side of VS808. Dimpled #30 fwd side of Aft VS803 spar.

I had to go to Roscommon (West of Ireland) for a conference so I rearranged my schedule to work on the project during the afternoon and travel in the evening.

I dissassembled the VS and got down to preparing the edges of all the parts. I am particularly pleased with the technique for holding and supporting the edges of the large parts. Even the top and bottom edges of the VS skins proved to be very easy. Those engineering type vices that I got in Lidl and which attach to the edge of my bench were invaluable again. this time, I used some lengths of teak either side of (and between) the two skin edges. Wehn doing the top and bottom, which are a continuous V shape, I just used a shoter piece of timber in the middle..

You need to be careful about which holes to countersink on the VS808PP and dimple on the VS803 spar. It helps if you know how the finished unit will be fitted to the fuse. That makes it obvious that the lower end of the forward side of the VS803 needs to be flat so it can can be fitted tight against the bulkhead. That means it has to be dimpled in that area to take countersunk rivets and the doubler plate behind it needs to be countersunk to accept those dimples as it is too thick to be dimpled itself.

Angle of Attachment

Sun. 11th. 8hrs

Measured, cut and finished the HS908 attach angles. Match-drilled them to the forward spar.Started on the HS by assembling the skeleton and match-drilling the skin. Prepared the main nose and cap ribs

Friday was my son’s graduation ceremony (Mechanical Engineering – Trinity College Dublin) so no work on the plane. On Saturday, I just felt like a full day of goofing off and spent some time with my wife for a change. However, today I wanted to tackle this outstanding attach angle project. It went much better this time and I have two perfect attach angles to show for my efforts. I really need to get a finer Sharpie marker however. The so-called ‘fine’ tip is not really fine enough at all and the lines are not precise enough for my liking. It would be good to be able to use a metalwork scribe but that would be to invite stress fractures so its better not to have one in the shop.

That completed the work in the HS up to primer stage. While I have the primer in stock, I don’t yet have the other elements organised for the priming job.
So, being unable to move on to the assembly of the HS until priming is finished, I moved on to begin the preparation of parts for the next major structure; the Vertical Stabiliser. I believe I may prepare all the emp parts up to primer stage and do all the parts at the same time. This would mean setting up a spray booth just once.

The VS skeleton went together without problems. I thought about using the cradle blocks for the skin and then slipping the skeleton down inside. The manual is silent on how the skeleton should be wrapped. In the end, I just stood the skeleton on the bench and placed the skin over it and then just clecoed the skin on, beginning at the leading edge of the nose spars and working back. This seemed to work really well. It is in huge contrast to the complex assembly method that George Orndorff shows in his video. He was obviously dealing with an earlier kit in which the ribs were formed but not match-drilled. I would safely say that having the skin attachment holes on the rib flanges pre-punched saves at least two hours, if not four.

I see from his website that Smitty used some 4in foam blocks between the clecos on the underside of his VS to hold it off the table while he match-drilled the top. I decided that the number of clecos involved would distribute the weight well enough. Besides, the clecos are all attached into ribs and/or spars, where there is a lot of structural strength, rather than free-floating skin. Also, the pressure applied to the drill in match-drilling existing pre-punched holes is very small. I was glad that I saved myself the effort of locating suitable foam as the results were perfect.

Countersinking feeling

Thurs 8th Nov. 3hrs 10min

Countersunk forward and aft spar flanges #40. Countersunk spar doublers and aft spar web #30.

Another evening of mistakes. Firstly, I had difficulty working out how to adjust the microstop cage and set it to the correct depth for the intended rivet. There is no measurement gauge (at least on the model I have) so this is a trial and error process and I went through a lot of scrap pieces to get it right (as I thought). Then moving on to the actual work piece, my first countersink was way bigger than the test pieces. Perhaps I did not push the drill fully home on the test pieces. The very first hole is definitely enlarged. I corrected the setting of the cage and went ahead. Looking from the top, it seemed that the countersink was removing material right through to the other side and when I put a #40 drill bit into the hole, it seemed to be very slightly undersized. I rang my inspector about this and he reckoned if that was the case then I should stop. However, when I looked at the holes very carefully with a jeweller’s loupe, I could see that the holes do indeed have a cylindrical section remaining so the countersink did not go all the way through the material. The play that I experienced between the hole and the drill bit was probably because I was using the fluted cutting end . If I had tried with the shank it would probably have been tight. Overall, I have one enlarged hole and I don’t think that will unduly affect the strength of the skin-spar join. After all, it is one of twenty or more along that flange. I will use an oops rivet or make one by slightly compressing an AD3 rivet in the squeezer so that its shank ‘thickens’ while the head remains the same size.

Next mistake was to countersink some of the wrong holes on the forward face of the aft spar doubler. I now have three additional holes that should have stayed flat. There is plenty of warning about this on builder’s sites and I did look carefully at the drawings. I just mis-identified the holes on the actual work piece. I guess I should be more liberal with my markings before I commit to removing material. In sporting parlance, this would be an ‘unforced error’. I think the best thing to do now is to use a countersink rivet in those positions. It’s strength will be similar to a universal head. It is just that the pattern of rivet heads on the finished structure will not be perfect. However this will eventually be hidden under the tailplane fairings.