1043- Elevators- p.9-2 step 2-6 & p.9-3 step 1-3

Elevators - 3 hrs 26 mins (Elev. 6:42, Empennage 111:07, Total 125:03)

Rivet count: 0 (Total 2,154)

The first hour and half was spent deburring edges. It went surprisingly faster than I expected, and I couldn't be happier. It also helps that I deburred quite a bit yesterday. The build started by assembling the 16 elevator ribs and drilling the common holes. Easy.
Then came assembly of the elevator tips. I had to flute the outer ribs first, though I did notice that Van's sent the pieces slightly fluted already. It wasn't quite straight, but it was nice to have it started. This is the outer edge where the counterweights will eventually go. In tried and true tradition, I started off a chapter by assembling something incorrectly. Pretty sure I've done this in each of the previous chapters as well. Luckily I caught it soon. I noticed that two of the holes weren't quite matching up, and that should have cued me in. It wasn't until I assembled the second tip that I noticed the picture in the instructions. Problem solved. Match drilled half the holes, swapped the clecos and match drilled the second half.
I was going to remove the lines of vinyl along the outer edges of the skins as I've done with the previous parts, but two things happened. First, yesterday I had removed one side of all the skins. I didn't bother to check, so for two of them, it was the inside and for two the outside. Second, there's so many lines of rivet holes on the skins, it wouldn't be worth the hour spent with the soldering iron. I removed the inner vinyl from two more skins, and I'll leave the last two vinyls on until it is time for deburring/countersinking.
The next page in the plans is dedicated completely to bending a tab on the four skins. Measure, clamp, bend. I even got to use the rivet gun on a really low setting to help. Each bend came out perfect, but we'll see if the bends match each other when it comes time for assembly. A great week of building! -M

1042- Elevators- p.9-2 step 1 & 7

Elevators - 3 hrs 16 mins (Elev. 3:16, Empennage 107:41, Total 121:37)

Rivet count: 0 (Total 2,154)

Busy work. Very boring yet important busy work. Very repetitive too, but then again that's part of the therapy of it all.

I started by cutting the sixteen ribs in two. Four cuts per rib. A lot of cutting.
The shear clips are the only other piece that requires extensive cutting in step 7, so I went ahead and used the bandsaw for those pieces too.

Then I removed the blue vinyl from all the alclad parts. A lot of removing.
I noticed on the skins there were two shades of blue vinyl. The darker stuff was a pain to remove and left behind patches of hardened glue on the surface of the aluminum. Nothing a little acetone couldn't handle.

Then I deburred the 36 rib halves and shear clips. A lot of deburring.
Looking ahead, step 2 is to "deburr edges of all elevator parts." Guess I know what my next 2+ hrs of build time will be spent on.. yippee

Excited to start the next chapter nonetheless! -M

1041- H.Stab- p.8-13 step 3-7

Horizontal Stabilizer - 4 hrs 54 mins (H.S. 52:17, Empennage 104:25, Total 118:21)

Rivet count: 634 (Total 2,154)

What better way to spend a Monday evening than finishing up another chapter in the build process? Horizontal Stabilizer complete!

Rivets. Lots of them. Finished riveting the skins to the stringers, then the inspar ribs. Lastly, added the rear spar and riveted it to the inspar ribs. Finished up by riveting the skins to the rear spar. I must say it again, the squeezer works wonders for 3- rivets. It's a bit tougher to get the 4- rivets, but for the 3- rivets, nothing beats the control and consistency of the squeezer.

Looks like it'll be a while before I pick up the rivet gun again. Elevator begins with cutting pieces and deburring edges. Yuck! I'll celebrate the H.S. in the meantime. -M

1040- H.Stab- p.8-13 step 2-3

Horizontal Stabilizer - 1 hr 42 mins (H.S. 47:23, Empennage 99:31, Total 113:27)

Rivet count: 164 (Total 1,520)

A much more efficient night tonight from last session. I'm also minutes away from breaking the 100 hr mark on the empennage, which I'm estimating at about 240 total hours right now.

I turned the H.Stab around and did the remaining 120 rivets between the skins and front spar. Since I finished this half so much quicker, I went ahead and started the next step. This involves riveting the skins to the four inboard inspar ribs, but only up to the stringers. After the stringers are riveted to the skins, then the rest of the inspar ribs (to include the three outboard ribs) can be riveted to skins.

I'm learning a few tips and techniques. As the riveting is blindly done by feel a lot in these steps, I've learned that wrapping the bucking bar in tape helps guard against scratching the surfaces as it bounces. This also allows me to use the adjacent surfaces as a point of contact to stabilize the bucking bar, and in turn requires less taps from the rivet gun to set the rivet. Whereas the rivets on the first pieces I made were quite varied, they are beginning to normalize and look uniform throughout. Cheers, -M

1039- H.Stab- p.8-13 step 1-2

Horizontal Stabilizer - 1 hr 59 mins (H.S. 45:41, Empennage 97:49, Total 111:45)

Rivet count: 132 (Total 1,356)

In the words of -L, I had a riveting time riveting tonight. I also grossly underestimated the 6 hours to finish the H.Stab yesterday. All of the rivets on the skin are individually placed and then I have to stand on a block of wood to give me the extra reach to get my arm and bucking bar inside. Of course, I'm basically blind on one side as I rivet, so each rivet takes a bit more time to get done correctly. But no worries. Each one is one rivet closer of the remaining ~600 for the H.Stab. Let's call it 9 more hours after tonight's work.

As far as the steps, I placed the final two inspar ribs on each end of the H.Stab and then riveted the skins to the front spar. Only managed to get the first half done tonight. I'll get the other side of the front spar tomorrow. -M

1038- H.Stab- p.8-10 st 1-2, 8-11 st 1-3, & 8-12 st 1-2

Horizontal Stabilizer - 3 hrs 19 mins (H.S. 43:42, Empennage 95:50, Total 109:46)

Rivet count: 170 (Total 1,224)

First time touching the workshop in three weeks... sad. It feels great though! Made it through an entire three pages on this monster work session.

I was sick for a week, and have been swamped with this Master's thesis. Even with snowmaggedon, I still only managed to get schoolwork done and no plane building. I finally found a few hours to sneak away and work in the shop instead. Two more weeks and education can be put on the back burner, for a few months at least. I found out about that job application... and I'll be going to Air Force pilot training at some point in 2014! I'll find out when and where within the next few weeks, but that's where the books will take over my life again. 

I riveted together the skeleton of the H.Stab. All the stringers and inspar ribs attached to the front spar. Then, I riveted the nose ribs to the skins, and then the skeleton assembly to the skins and nose ribs. All that's left is to finish riveting all pieces to the skins, add the rear spar, and a few random bushings. Easier said than done. I'm estimating about 6 more hours of work, and I'm likely on the short side of the estimate. That will have me finishing the whole H.Stab in 50 hours of labor.

Two key points for those who might be preparing to labor themselves.

1) I went with online estimates of other builders and saw they all had about 350 hrs for the empennage and X hrs for each chapter. I had finished the V.Stab and Rudder a lot faster than them and was worried. Now the same for the H.Stab. At least I'm consistent at about 60-70% faster than the sites I saw. You'll have to factor your own work pace, and be prepared to deviate faster or slower. In my case, I may be working faster, but I'm missing out on workdays due to illness, travel, work, school, etc. So I'm lucky that mine offset, but they could all work against you or for you. It's just part of the build and something to be ready for. You can't schedule every little variation, unless maybe if you're retired.

2) I started to rivet with my left hand today. More and more, pieces are getting more difficult to reach, and at times, being ambidextrous has helped immensely. Im still not as good on the left, but getting much better. Recommend you practice with your weaker arm once you get comfortable with your dominant because you will need to use both at some point in your build too. -M