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!

Pre-close Inspection forms sent

Tad stopped by after work yesterday and we finished off a few small things. One was to get the hinge bracket bolted to the spar on the stabilizer and the other was to finish off a couple of tricky rivets on the trail edge of the elevator. We did those witht he 4x gun and back-riveted with a small flat plate centred over the rivet. Worked great.
So now we wait to hear from the MD-RA about when we can have it inspected. Wings are the next items to order.... oh and some pro-seal for the emp. trailing edgeds!

Finishing the Elevator(Before inspection that is!)

Well, we are almost completely finished with the tail kit for now. We riveted the other side of our hinge for the trim-tab on to the elevator and finished off the rivets on the elevator's top side.
A couple of small things to do before we book our inspection. Two rivets on the trail-edge of the elevator and install the hinge bearing bracket on the stabilizer and torqued to proper spec.
Also called Van's about getting our wing kit on the way. It's 25% down at time of order so i think we'll be doing that in the next week or so. They say it can take 6-8 weeks to get it crated and shipped. We'll have ours shipped to Montana and then drive down to pick it up. It's going to be a fun winter!!

Finishing the Trim Tab

On Sunday Tad and I worked on finishing the trim tab assembly. First we riveted the control horn and the bottom of the leading edge. We ended up back-riveting those difficult rivets as we don't have a longeron yoke and using the bucking bar and riveting on such a small piece would have proven difficult. In the end it produced some excellent, very consistent rivets.
Next was to dimple the end tabs for the CS4-4 rivets and drill, debur and prime the hinge. Getting all prepared before we used proseal to fasten the foam ribs inside. To finally close up the trim tab we used the pneumatic squeezer and some patience to set them. At first we used the hand squeezer but found it difficult to use. We drilled those couple out and reset them with the pneumatic.
Then we put the assembled trim tab in the v-block clamps... Done!

Next we'll need to drill the mating hinge on the elevator.

From Pete and Tad's RV-9a Build

From Pete and Tad's RV-9a Build

From Pete and Tad's RV-9a Build

From Pete and Tad's RV-9a Build

From Pete and Tad's RV-9a Build

From Pete and Tad's RV-9a Build

Trim Tab

Tad was able to stop by last evening and we got most of the trim tab ready for riveting. Tad built the bending break so we could complete the bend of the trim tab itself. This turned out pretty good and we just did a little at a time to make sure not to over do it. After fussing with it for a bit it turned out really good. We were both pretty happy with it.
Next was to bend the tab at either ends. We tried it first on a sample piece to gauge the bend on it and decided to sand the bending blocks a little to ease the radius a bit. Tad did the honours of slowly bending the tab down. We continued match drilling the tab and finished off by countersinking the holes where the hinge will go on the spar. The bottom of that spar has dimples that mate up with the skin.
Tad has taken the parts and will prime them... next will be drilling the hinge and riveting it together.

From Pete and Tad's RV-9a Build

From Pete and Tad's RV-9a Build

From Pete and Tad's RV-9a Build

From Pete and Tad's RV-9a Build

Left Elevator Part II

Tad and I were able to get some work done on the Left Elevator Thursday and today(Sunday). After Thursday's work session Tad took the parts home to prime and that is where we started today. Assembled the main skeleton section, minus the rear spar(trim tab) and riveted all the stiffeners to the skin. We also countersunk the rear spar where the hinge will go for the trim tab.
So, the next session will be installing the skeleton into the skin of the elevator and then working on the trim tab.
We are nearing the end of the pre-inspection work. Soon we'll have it inspected and finish off the emp. by closing all the sections.
Then the wings will be next!

From Pete and Tad's RV-9a Build

From Pete and Tad's RV-9a Build

From Pete and Tad's RV-9a Build

From Pete and Tad's RV-9a Build

From Pete and Tad's RV-9a Build

Left Elevator

Tad came by today to work on the Left Elevator for a while. About 4hours work. All parts are almost ready for primer. Still need to counter sink the T.E. Spar where the hinge attaches to the trim tab and match drill the bottom stiffeners to the skin. We have a few extra stiffeners coming as a few were cut short... neither one of us are sure why, how that happened. Anyway, we'll probably work on the T.E. Spar and the Trim tab this week, hopefully!