Back in the Saddle

I know.  It's been over a month since I last posted.  Truth is, I just haven't worked that much on the plane.  Lots of yard work and things like that have gotten done on the weekends (with body aches to prove it), but for some reason my enthusiasm for evening work on the plane has wained a bit with the shorter days, despite taking a day or two off to work on it.  I need to get on the ball though.  There'll probably be a scheduled price increase in February on the various kits that Van's sells and I'll want to have my order placed for the RV-12 wing kit before then.  Because of workspace issues I'll also want to have the tailcone finished and stowed away before the big crate full of airplane wing parts arrives at my door.

So what have I done in the last month?  Well, I
 * removed the blue plastic protecting the skins along all the rivet lines,
 * deburred all the rivet holes and edges,
 * bent the edges on the tailcone skins per the plans (not hard, once someone shows you how),
 * fluted the frames to straighten the rivet hole lines, and
 * fastened together the tailcone frame hoops shown in picture.

The large and medium hoops are easy - a few pop rivets and you're done.  The small hoop, the one that goes at the very aft of the tail cone, required the assistance of my neighbor Ken because there's a doubler plate and six-inch angle fastened with #4 rivets that need to be squeezed, and the pieces are too light to secure firmly while operating the rivet squeezer, which is also awkward to use (for me anyway).  In return I promised to help Ken clean out his second-story rain gutters this weekend.

As you can see, I did manage to mess up the first rivet (bottom row left) by oversqueezing it, I think.  Somehow there ended up being a small gap between the doubler plate and the frame after I squeezed the rivet.  So I drilled it out and, since the hole is now enlarged, ordered some #5 rivets from Aircraft Spruce to use in that hole.  They should arrive any day now.  The other 17 rivets went in pretty well because I took my own earlier advice and only gave each rivet a half-squeeze until all 17 were in, then went back and re-squeezed down to spec.  It also helped a lot having Ken hold the frame steady while I manned the rivet squeezer.  With the exception of the first bottom rivet (soon to be fixed), I'm satisfied with it.

December 18 update:  The # 5 replacement rivets came in the mail so I could finish the final rivet in the small bulkhead hoop.  You're not supposed to use a Cleaveland Main Squeeze rivet squeezer on 5/32" rivets but I used it anyway and didn't break anything.  Here's the # 5 "oops" rivet next to seventeen # 4s:

It should be okay.  It's deep in the tailcone and faces aft, so no-one will see it anyway.