Back riveted and bent left elevator skin: 4.5 hours

I got all the stiffeners and the electric trim access plate riveted. The trim access plate has seven small nut plates that are riveted on. For those I used some special small head NAS 1097 rivets as recommended by other builders. They worked great and I will be using these on the several hundred nut plates that will hold on all the access panels on the airplane.

I also finished all the edges of the skin and did the final bend on the skin.

 

More back riveting:

 

The trim access stiffener with nut plates:

 

The squeeze clamps make it easy to get the bend just right.

Posted with Blogsy

Left elevator parts prep: 8.2 hours

I got a lot of the not so fun prep work done today: trimmed and shaped all the stiffeners, match drilled all the stiffeners, skin and trim reinforcement plate, deburred, dimpled, cleaned, and primed everything.

The good news is that all those components are now ready to be riveted together.

 

Match drilling the left elevator. The cut out is for the trim tab.

 

 

 

 

Posted with Blogsy

Finished wing kit inventory: 3.1 hours

I got the wing kit all inventoried and stored out of the way until I finish the elevators.

There were quite a few parts and everything was there except a small bag of hardware for installing the nav / strobe light lenses on the wing tips. I guess that's why you inventory. I called Vans and they are sending the missing parts.

Now back to the elevators.

 

Inventorying the many bags of special fasteners and hardware:

 

Everything unpacked...

 

Posted with Blogsy

Finished most riveting on right elevator: 6 hours

I got the fun part of the right elevator done. Riveted together the substructure then riveted the skin on then finished bolting on the counterweight. There were a few tricky rivets that required the rivet gun but most could be easily reached with the pneumatic squeezer.

The only things left to do is rolling and riveting the leading edge and installing the ball bearing rod ends.

The instructions tell you to set the right elevator aside and start on the more complicated left elevator. Then doing all the finishing items at once.

 

Right elevator substructure riveted together.

 

Almost done.

Posted with Blogsy

Early Christmas, again!: 1 hour

I picked up the wing kit today at the freight terminal. The crate containing the spars was much longer than I anticipated but it fit on my small trailer and made it up the driveway with no problems.

I just unpacked a few things but I had to take a close look at the factory built main wing spars. I was very impressed by how strong these appear and how good the workmanship is. They are definitely confidence inspiring.

I just started inventorying the wing kit but that will take several more hours to complete ... quite a few parts.

 

The 4Runner comes through again!

 

Breaking open the spar box.

 

Main wing spars:

 

Burly machined aluminum bars and big rivets = 6g's.

 

Posted with Blogsy

Finished bending, prepared all parts and primed: 6.1 hours

I got the elevator skin bent just right but it took a while because I didn't want to over bend it. The process was to bend a little, temporarily attach the skin to the spar and check, then repeat. The left elevator should be quicker.

After that I finished all the edges of the skin, ribs and spar. I also mounted the lead counterweight which required some tricky drilling. I then match drilled all the rivet holes, deburred the holes, and dimpled the parts and skin. The last step was cleaning and priming everything.

Ready to start riveting!

 

Set up to drill the counterweight.

 

Right elevator under structure.

 

Temporarily assembled for match drilling.

 

Posted with Blogsy

Riveted the stiffeners and worked on bending: 2.9 hours

I back riveted all the stiffeners on and they turned out great. It was a little tricky riveting the stiffeners close to the bend in the trailing edge.

I also built a simple wood bending break and made some initial bends to get the elevator skin ready for riveting. The skins come partially bent so you don't over stress them when riveting in the stiffeners.

I forgot to take a photo of the bending process but I will take some when I do the left elevator.

 

Taping rivets in place for back riveting the stiffeners:

 

Posted with Blogsy

Stiffener work and skin prep: 4.8 hours

Got all of the stiffeners for the right elevator shaped. Then I match drilled the stiffeners and the skin. Then deburred and dimpled everything. Finally I primed all the parts. Ready for back riveting!

 

Match drilling the stiffeners and skin.

Posted with Blogsy

Started trimming elevator stiffeners: 1.5 hours

The elevators have a lot of small internal stiffeners that have to be trimmed then shaped on the scotch brite wheel. I'm starting with the right elevator. The left elevator is fairly complicated due to the elevator trim tab.

 

Laying out the 14 stiffeners for the right elevator.

 

Posted with Blogsy

Rudder finished! 3.5 hours

The metal work for the rudder is done. (Like all of the empennage, the rudder has a fiberglass tip and bottom which will be attached and finished later in the build.) I finished rolling and riveting the leading edge then thoroughly cleaned up the exterior skins of the rudder.

I also installed the ball bearing rod ends that will attach the rudder to the vertical stabilizer. These will act as ball bearing hinges and they are a large part of why the RV-7 has such responsive and light touch controls.

Once I got the rudder safely stored I started getting the parts for the right elevator together.

 

Rudder rod end bearings:

 

Rod end bearing installed in rudder:

 

Rudder hanging below vertical stabilizer in storage:

Posted with Blogsy

Started rolling rudder leading edges: 2.5 hours

The rudder and other control surfaces have rolled leading edges. Rolling these edges causes a lot of consternation among builders.

I have done a lot of research on the web forums and other builder's blogs. I ended up trying several different techniques.

The process is very subjective and involves bending then checking then bending more, etc.

 

This is a popular technique with wood brackets to hold the bending tube. The skin is taped to the tube with duct tape.

 

After the bends are made there is a good bit of effort involved to get the skins lined up for riveting.

 

Posted with Blogsy

Riveted trailing edge: 4.5 hours

This took a little longer than expected but turned out good. I spent a good bit of time cleaning the epoxy out of every rivet hole.

Keeping the very thin trailing edge straight while riveting was tricky. It involved partially riveting a few rivets then checking with a straight edge then riveting more, etc.

Double flush riveting:

 

Posted with Blogsy

Lots of progress riveting rudder: 7.3 hours

I was able to do all riveting on the rudder with the exception of the trailing edge. I also installed the counterweight. Assembling the components with the pneumatic squeezer goes fast and is the most fun part of the building process.

The last thing I did was fine tune the fit of the trailing edge pieces then epoxy it together on my aluminum angle template.

Next steps will be riveting the trailing edge then rolling the leading edge.

 

Finishing the counterweight skin:

 

The installed counter weight. The orange dots (torque seal) are to indicate that the bolts have been torqued to the correct value.

 

My beautiful assistant with the squeezer. That long yoke on the squeezer made it possible to reach every rivet without having to use the rivet gun.

 

All riveted except for the trailing edge.

 

Trailing edge epoxied and curing.

 

Posted with Blogsy

Primed skeleton and started riveting: 4.9 hours

Got everything primed then riveted the skeleton together. There were some difficult rivets in several places. I used my hand rivet squeezer for the first time for some of these. It gives you more control but it takes a lot of effort to squeeze the 1/8" rivets. I'm glad to have the pneumatic squeezer for the majority of rivets. I also riveted the bottom of the counterweight skin on. I used the rivet gun but it's a very tight space and took a long time.

 

Riveting the reinforcement plates to the spar:

 

The rudder brace was challenging. The squeezer had to be fitted into the hole and carefully positioned.

 

More challenging riveting on the counterweight skin:

 

Skeleton complete, ready for skins!

 

Posted with Blogsy

Countersunk trailing edge strip, more deburring etc: 4.8 hours

There is a lot of prep work on the rudder. Thankfully I finished all prep work other than dimpling the skins and priming everything. So just a few more hours and I should be riveting everything together.

I spent a fair amount of time today working on the rudder trailing edge. It will use a special "double flush" rivet technique and there is a strip between the skins that has to be countersunk. This seems to give a lot of builders trouble so I'm taking extra time with it.

There's a lot of hole drilling. To keep everything straight I bought a piece of aluminum angle and match drilled it to the trailing edge wedge. Before the riveting is done I will bond the railing edge with epoxy (per the plans) with the rudder attached (with clecos) to the angle then carefully rivet so as not to introduce a bend in the thin trailing edge.

Match drilling the aluminum angle straight edge:

 

Fitting the lead rudder counterweight:

 

Rudder parts dimpled and ready for priming!

 

Posted with Blogsy