(8-9 step 9):
One last thing I wanted to do prior to assembling the horizontal
stabilizer was so something with the countersink holes. I'm not
too worried about the rivet holes because the rivets will expand to
fill that space, but the area between the skin and spar seems a little
vulnerable to water seepage right up to where the rivet is. So, I
wanted to corrosion proof these countersunk holes at least a
little. It seemed like a good job for the alodine pen so I just
dabbed it in each of the countersunk holes of both spars.
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(8-10 step 2): Now
the assembly starts… 1st thing was the center section of the
horiontal stabilizer. I attached the stringer web to the center
two inspar ribs. After that the stringers are riveted together
and onto the stringer web.
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(9-2 step 1):
Squeezing the rivets on the horizontal stabilizer center section
was pretty much a one person job so Angela started on the
elevators. 1st step was to cutout & debur the elevator
ribs. Each rib is formed with 2 parts. They're stamped from
the factory as one part as shown in the top picture. Angela needed to
separate the two pieces and debur them prior to joining them.
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(8-11 step 3):
After I got the center section all riveted together, the next
step was to attach it to the front spar assembly. Since the
center two inspar ribs share rivets with the center two nose ribs, they
only get clecoed for now. Next I slid in the next 4 ribs on
either side of the center ones. These 8 ribs did get riveted in
place since they don't share rivets with nose ribs. Here's a shot
of the ribs and the center section attached to the front spar
assembly. There are still 4 ribs (2 on either end) that will be
attached later.
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(8-12 step 1): After
the spar & rib assembly came the nose ribs. These were placed
in the skins and were riveted in before anything else was put in
place. We did the center two on each skin first. Angela
& I played around with a few different techniques before finally
deciding on laying the skin in the cradles on its side, and she shot
while I bucked. This seems to be working good for us. I
considered using the smallest bucking bar I had, when Angela suggested
the 'special' RV-10 bucking bar (the long thin one). This turned
out to be the one we went with. With the skin laying on its side
I held the bar parallel to the leading edge of the skin. This
allowed me to hold it with two hands and maintain excellent control of
both the pressure, and the angle of the face on the rivet (I used the
flat side opposite the beveled side). Here's a shot of one of one
of the completed nose ribs... not too bad!
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Once we completed the 2 nose
ribs in the center of each skin it was time to call it a night.
Angela wanted to stick around and attach a couple of the outter nose
ribs though. So, she hooked up the squeezer & attached the
end ribs to one of the skins. (the inboard and outboard ribs)
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Heres an external shot of one of
the nose rib rivets. We've got 2 more nose ribs to do, and then
we're on to the spar/web assembly...
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