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:
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