Horizontal stabilizer finished! I think I'm happy with it. I hoisted it up into the rafters today to get it out of harms way. Now I clean up and start on the elevators. Here is the final product:
And below is it all clecoed up before final riveting of the skins.
Good friend Mike O'Brien came over on a Saturday to help me rivet the nose rivets. They are pretty tough to reach for one guy. We did some primer touch-up with an air brush, and then clecoed it all up and Mike bucked while I riveted. It went great, not a single dent and the nose ribs looked great.
A BIG THANKS to Mike!
The front spar and inner ribs before setting down in the skin....
The inside ribs and stringers...
All remaining HS parts fitted, disassembled, scuffed, alumiprepped and ready to paint
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Finally have made progess on the HS. Here are initial photos. I am rather surprised at how big it looks, after flying an RV-6, the RV-10 HS looks huge. But it lines up perfectly straight thanks to Van's excellent fabrication. The stands are strictly for something to hold it while I work, the alignment is all dictated by the pre-drilled holes. I have run very short on cleco's, so I ordered some more from Aircraft Spruce which should be here tomorrow.
Below are the spar and rib parts, some getting primed/sprayed prior to assembly. I will have another big lot of parts to spray soon before I rivet up the HS.
It has been about 3 weeks since I posted anything. Vacation and the bathroom remodel have taken up a lot of my time. However, I have been chipping away at the HS when I can. I try to get in an hour every evening if I can. Kind of a therapy thing.
So I have the rear HS spar finished, and the front HS spar is all drilled, prepped and ready to apply the prekote and prime tomorrow morning. Then I get to start putting in the ribs and it will possibly start looking like a horizontal stabilizer!
I finished dimensioning, drilled, deburred and polished the horizontal stabilizer attachment brackets. I might have gone overboard a bit, I ended up machining them to final size on my mill. But I also realized these are a big part of what holds the HS onto the plane. Kind of critical. They are dead on spec.
Next up is the front spar of the HS. I am anxious and excited to get to it.
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Busy with the bathroom remodel, lots of drywall. Part of the RV deal I swung with Julie was to finish the bathroom. So more bathroom, less plane of late. However.....
I was able to get the main spar finished, with all the hinge brackets on it. Getting better at priming/spraying, although still learning.
Below shows the shop heads of the rivets pictured on the left. Fairly good riveting, although I can pick out the one I'm not happy with.
And here is the start of machining out the Front Spar Attachment Brackets. You start with a clunky piece of aluminum angle. The measurements are to the 32nd of an inch. That is pretty tight. I took my time and snuck up on the width and got these roughed out. Next step will be to finish them up.
Have started the horizontal stabilizer, began deburring and smoothing up parts. Have the main rear spar and doubler plate match drilled, countersunk and ready to prime. Went ahead to fabricate some additional parts so that I will have a larger group to prime/spray.
Below is the inboard hinge bracket assembly. This is a good shot of the plans, an assembly clecoed up, and the first rivet drive. Then the final assembly. The pneumatic rivet squeezer sure does make nice, repeatable shop heads.
Shop heads to the left......
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