Finishing the Horizontal Stabilizer Skin

I was able to finish up riveting on the skins of both sides of the horizontal stabilizer.  I had only planned to rivet on the right side skin to HS-702 front spar and HS-708 rib, but that only took about a half hour to complete.  So, I decided I should continue on!  Here is how the riveting turned out on the spar and rib:

I was relieved to have finished off all the rivets that needed to be set using a rivet gun and bucking bar.  I am very happy that the skins turned out looking perfect and I didn’t dish or dent the skins.  These are going to paint up really nicely, and hopefully be show quality!

After getting the skins done, I continued on to riveting on the HS-706 end ribs and HS-00005 and HS-00006 end ribs on both sides.  These pieces are all done using a squeezer, so I wasn’t worried about them getting messed up or taking a long time to do.  Once you get the squeezer set to the right depth, every single rivet turns out the same, making for very pretty work.   I started out on the HS-706 end ribs, since they were easy to access. I worked them from the leading edge to the trailing edge to prevent oil-canning.  They turned out great, without needing any re-work:

img_0829 img_0830

Then I turned to the inner HS-00005 and HS-0005 ribs.  Like I did with the HS-706, I started from the leading edge and worked my way back to the trailing edge.  They also turned out really nice.  Once I had both sides done, on top and bottom, I decided to call it a night. I will leave the rear spar off until I can get the EAA Tech Counselor to come out and take a look.  With the rear spar off, they can peak down into the horizontal stabilizer and verify all my rivets look OK.  Once they have signed off on my work, I will rivet on the rear spar using the squeezer.

Here are all the photos from tonights work:

And here is a link to the Google Photos page for tonight: https://goo.gl/photos/FQVT4UEbrgBXFXVv6

Hours Worked: 1.75
Tagged . Bookmark the permalink.

Leave a Reply