I started today by riveting the Front Spar Doubler to the Front Spar. This was a previous step in the plans, however, I skipped the riveting in order to epoxy prime these pieces with the rest of the Vertical Stabilizer. The Rudder Hinge Brackets, Rear Spar, and Rear Spar Doubler were then riveted together with a combination of flush and universal head rivets. This picture shows all the pieces clecoed together prior to riveting.
Once everything was clecoed, I riveted them together using the pneumatic squeezer. The Rear Spar assembly used five different sizes of AN426 Flush rivets and AN470 Universal Head rivets. Below are examples of the two types of rivets used to complete the Rear Spar assembly.
The Front Spar, Rear Spar, Tip Rib, Rib, Root Rib, and Nose Rib make up the Vertical Stabilizer skeleton. These will be the next pieces to get riveted together and is shown clecoed together below.
This is a different view of the Vertical Stabilizer skeleton. You can see the aft portion of the Rear Spar which contains the Rudder Hinge Brackets in white.
Lastly, I epoxy primed the rivet seams on the outer Skin in preparation for riveting to the Vertical Stabilizer skeleton. Since it was a relatively small job, I used a Preval Spray System purchased at The Home Depot to spray the primer.
The video covers the first half of the Rear Spar, Rear Spar Doubler, and Rudder Hinge Brackets assembly.
The video covers the second half of the Rear Spar, Rear Spar Doubler, and Rudder Hinge Brackets assembly, the assembly of the Vertical Stabilizer skeleton, and the preparation of the outer Skin.