HS#2 Rear spar and VS#2 - 6 hours

Started off the morning my match drilling the rear spar and the hinge brackets.  I notched the bottom of the flanges to help mark the parts orientation. I know that this area will be trimmed to fit the elevator horns so I thought it a good idea.

Once that was complete, I decided to jump over to the vertical stabilizer as I didn't want to get into the front spar fabrication just yet. I moved forward with the vertical stabilizer. I began fitting the doubler to the spar and the brackets.

HS#2 start - 6 hours

It took a bunch of time to move all the pieces from the garage and downstairs to the basement for storage. I decided to re-build the HS and VS while the processes and pitfalls are still fresh in my head. That way when I jump onto the wings my skills will be honed. I started in in the HS rear spar (and some of the other empennage parts that needed to be laid out and cut on the band saw) it's much easier and quicker to set up tools once and then do a selection of parts. I broke the edges of the HS rear spar parts and VS doubler. Nearly have the HS rear spar doublers matched drilled.

Wing kit and empennage #2 kit arrives - 7 hours

Well after a short wait the wing kit (and the second empennage kit) has arrived. Both Vans and the trucking company that vans arranged are incredibly easy to deal with and they know their stuff. The wing kit consists of 2 crates (one was the 15' long) and the empennage came in a second crate. To total shipping weight was just under 600lbs, but I found that two guys can handle each crate just fine. After taking the crates apart. The packing is exceptional, and much of the weight is in the well constructed crates. Inventory went very smooth and took about 7 hours for both kits. The only annoyance is one of the rivet bags had mixed rivet sizes and I didn't catch it before I dumped it in the bin. Two most impressive pieces in the kit...the spars of course as they are a work of art, and I was blown away by the size of the wingtips. Did not expect them to be so big. 

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Wings are Shipped!!

Well, Little new news. Received confirmation from Van's that the wings have shipped

Reflection on the Empennage

Well. I have been giving the empennage some real thought. Very much a learning experience so far. I am pondering ordering a second vertical and horizontal stabilizer and having another go. The goal is to achieve perfection. I want this to be a very clean and well built plane. Not a show plane....but one that is well done. I think it would be wise to take what I have learned and have another go. This time incorporating all the lessons learned so far. Definitely simplify the priming process to maximize on weight (I know now that I am going to have issues with the 2-part epoxy that I have used)

Pricing out some of the parts....it is just better economy to order a second kit and re-build the pieces I want to perfect. Knowing what I know now...It will take no time to rebuild much of the pieces I want to do again.

Finishing up the last few rivets on the elevators and rudder, And installing rod bearings - 4 hours

I had ordered a bunch of MK-319-BS rivets from vans to finish off the really difficult rivets nearest the trailing edges of the rudder and elevators. I had called vans previously to see if I could use a MK-319-BS rivet instead of a CS4-4 rivet by that really tricky spot beside the rudder control horn. Van's support said that it shouldn't be a problem as the MK-319-BS is a more structural rivet than the CS4-4.

I then installed the rod end bearings in the rudder and elevator. I used a small amount of Boelube as suggested on Van's Airforce to help. Some of the rod bearings do take a bit of work to get in there. I really took my time to set the rod bearings to the proper dimensions. I had used my handy rod bearing tool that I made a number of days ago. Worked like a charm.

Finishing up the last few rivets on the HS - 2 hours

Well. I've spent a decent amount of time practicing setting AD5 rivets with a double offset rivet set, and I have managed to dial in the proper rivet gun settings and the secret to setting the AD5 rivet so that it doesn't fold over...Practice, practice, practice.

I managed to complete all rivets for the HS-0005/0006 to the forward spar.