FIRST, PUT IT ALL BACK TOGETHER
The time has come to reassemble the tailcone one last time. I will admit that this is probably my favorite part of the build process. I really enjoy seeing all of the primed parts coming back together to get riveted permanently. After riveting together the individual bulkhead pieces, it is time to move on to reattaching the tailcone skins.
It isn’t much to look at yet, but a couple of hours from now it sure will.
FIRST TAILCONE SKIN RIVETS
It has been several months since I have riveted the skins to the frame. I am truly excited. I did drilled some holes in scrap aluminum and shot a few test rivets into those pieces just to check myself first. Passed with flying colors. It was incredibly exciting to watch the progress move along fairly easily. I was able to move down an entire line of the empennage without too much difficulty. Every time I rivet skins, I cannot emphasize enough how much I like my tungsten bucking bar. I can’t imagine all of the extra effort that using steel would create. Hard pass.
There they are! The first full row of rivets in the tailcone skins. I do have to add some commentary here about placing of the rivets. There are many holes that are NOT to be riveted at this time. The forward bulkhead, the longerons, and various other locations throughout. The bookkeeping on which holes do and do not get riveted was important, but not overly time consuming. It is well worth the effort to double check all of the work.
Not a lot of words today, but a lot of work and a lot of rivets. Truly a rewarding day seeing the tailcone coming together.
Total time today – 3.5 hours
Total time empennage – 173.5 hours
Total time aircraft – 173.5 hours