Right and Left Elevator

Well, it's been slowing down lately as we only have the trailing-edges left to do. Tad and I managed to pretty much finish off the left elevator and it is now ready for the trailing-edge drilling and riveting. I worked on the right elevator and got that one ready as well.

From Pete and Tad's RV-9a Build

From Pete and Tad's RV-9a Build

The week before we decided to shoot some more primer inside the elevators so that they are completely primed inside now. We just wanted to be sure there weren't going to be any issues later on.
We'll be using the Pro-seal, angle aluminum method so i think that will happen on the next building session. First we'll match drill through the trail-edge, the wedge and then we'll countersink the wedge and dimple the skin. I'm thinking now that getting the dimple dies in there could be tricky.

Received the confirmation letter from Van's about the wings. should be here sometime mid-august! AND the dollar is doing better each day, in fact, the best it's been since last October. a good time to order $6800us in airplane parts!!

Finishing the Empennage

Tad stopped by yesterday evening and we finished off the Vertical Fin. We used the pneumatic squeezer but had to modify the tip of our 'no-hole yoke'. it just wouldn't fit nicely past the existing rivets on the spar. We had to drill out a few rivets as they weren't setting nice and straight. After the modification to the yoke we didn't have any problems. Spent about 2hrs. finishing that off.
I continued on with a few rivets on the Horizontal Stabilizer. there are 200 rivets on the rear 'skin to spar' so i setup the squeezer and did about a 100. Tonight i finished those off and the two outward rib-to-spar rivets. only rivets left on the stabilizer are the 6 inward ones. plans call for a 4-6 but it looks a little short.
i'm going to leave those and let tad have a look.
So, except for those 6 rivets we've got two pieces done.

Inspection PASSED!

On Friday, July 3, we passed our first pre-close inspection. Our MD-RA inspection went VERY well and he couldn't find any flaws in our workmanship. Not even a bad rivet to drill out and reset:)
SO... it's a good feeling to have that done and know that we have the abilities to get working on the next sections without too much concern. We will do the same on the wings and leave them open until the Fuselage is ready for inspection. Getting both done at the same time.
We still have the trailing edges to close up and then it's onto the wings!

Inspection Tomorrow

Well, i received a call this afternoon from our MDRA inspector and he is planning to come tomorrow to do our inspection.
This is great news as he is planning on vacation for a few weeks and is managing to get us in before he leaves. That will enable us to finish off our tail section and prepare for the wings to arrive!

Next posts should be closing up the tail sections!