NEW TOYS
For starters, yes, yes I am quite pleased with myself for that delightful pun. If you have read even one other post prior to this, you’ve already prepared yourself for it so hopefully it didn’t sting as much. All kidding aside there was some excellent progress made yesterday, a new tool (the special RV-10 bucking bar) and method of using it to highlight, and lots of pop rivets in narrow places to negotiate. On with the fun!
First, I finished up a row of easier to reach rivets with my standard bucking back and mushroom set on the rivet gun. Nothing of great significance to note there other than it felt really good to get back to using the rivet gun again. I had used the squeezer a handful of times, but even with its amazing consistency there is just something gratifying about setting a rivet the old fashioned way that you can’t pass up.
Once I finished those, it was on to the picture above. In order to get to this row of rivets in a narrow place, you need a long and narrow bucking bar for the job. The elevator skins taper towards the trailing edge, which must be accounted for by the shape of the bar. Enter Van’s solution for this crazy scoop shaped steel bucking bar. In the instructions they give detailed measurements on how to fabricate one yourself. Instead I fabricated a withdrawal slip for $39 from my bank account and had Cleveland Tool send me one of theirs. Vastly easier.
This is how it fits in to the gap and sits on the rivet. It ended up working out great. Kudos to Cleveland Tool on this one.
THOUGHTS ON BUCKING BARS
A quick note on bucking bars in general here. Cleveland Tool makes the bucking bar on the left. Again, marvelous craftsmanship and an excellent tool. On the right you see my smaller tungsten bucking bar that I’ve used for pretty much the entire rest of the aircraft. The difference between steel and tungsten is profound. The density and weight of the tungsten makes it a much nicer experience when riveting when compared with the steel bar. The price difference is significant, but in my experience so is the outcome.
POP RIVETS (SANG TO THE TUNE OF “POP MUSIC”)
Next item up was placing some pop rivets into incredibly tight quarters, but ultimately that went by without issue. Four rivets per rib pair, 8 rib pairs per elevator, and two elevators. Simple math and lots of rivets to squeeze into place. It ended up looking really clean and nice.
Finally, I prepared the forward spar for riveting to the skins before cleaning up for the night. Everything fit right into place and looked great. I’m glad I took the extra time that Van’s recommended when match drilling all of the holes to do them one at a time with every hole clecoed along the way. It really did make for a nice uniform fit at this stage in the game. As I read ahead (something I do every night to prepare for the next session), I notice that I am only a few steps away from getting to play with the tank sealant again. Yay.
Total time today – 3 hours
Total time empennage – 115 hours
Total time aircraft -115 hours