Odds and Ends - 2 hours

I asked Mike a friend of mine over to give me a hand with the rudder. Mike has way more experience than me and he suggested perhaps trying to set the rivet with a Cleveland Tools Big Squeeze. He says that he prefers it over a pneumatic squeezer as it allows him to control the squeezing of the rivet, and also allows him to stop squeezing if the rivet is starting to bend or shift. He says that's its slower, but he finds that he likes it way more. Mike suggested that we give it a try on the stubborn rivet I have on the rudder.

Well what can I say...It worked exactly as he described. We slightly bent the top tab of the rudder spar to help with accessibility. I held the rudder and a flashlight as Mike works the Big Squeeze. The rivet was perfectly set!

We then worked a bit on the Vertical Stabilizer to drill out some of the oops rivets that I had used on it. Originally I used a 4-3.5 oops rivet to replace a 3-3.5 rivet which is incorrect. I needed to use a longer oops rivet length due to the oops rivet having a larger diameter shank diameter. While removing a rivet, I bent one of the tabs on the rib where it attaches to the front spar. No big deal, I pulled out my 3145 RTV adhesive and put a dab on the tab. I then clamped it and I am waiting for it to dry. This will allow the tab to sit back tight against the spar until I can set a rivet through it.

Mike has some really great tips and is an inspiration to get building again.