12/29/03
(3 Hrs)

Well I've stalled on the Horizontal Stabilizer for the time being because I need an extra pair of hands for the riveting, so I decided to start on the Vertical Stabilizer. Here is the rear spar with the reinforcing bar and hinge brackets cleco'd inside. The rudder will eventually attach to the hinges so it can swing freely.
Here are all of the internal ribs for the VS. I have fluted them so they lay flat on the table and I've cleaned up the edges with the edge deburr tool. This sucker is a lot simpler than the HS!
This is a shot of the internal pieces of the VS all cleco'd together. I have match drilled all rib-to-spar attach holes to final size.
Now I have cleco'd on the skin of the VS.
12/30/03
(3 Hrs)
 Spent today match drilling the skin to the ribs and spars, deburring the holes, cleaning up the edges, etc. After this I dimpled the ribs and spars using my pneumatic squeezer.

This is a shot of how you typically drill through the pre-punched holes in the skin and ribs to ensure they are exactly the same size and are lined up.
12/31/03
(2 Hrs)
 This is a pic of the reinforcing bar in the rear spar of the vertical stabilizer. Here I have countersunk some of the holes in the lower part of this piece because when the whole thing is put together this surface will lay flush against and attach to the fuselage. Because of this, the rivets that go into these holes are flush head rivets and the countersunk holes allow the surface to be flat and smooth after the rivets are set.
By the way the surface is just a bit dirty....it will come clean when I hit it with laquer thinner before priming.
1/18/04
(4 Hrs)
 Finally got around to priming the internal components of the vertical stabilizer. Should be able to rivet these guys in the next few days (here's to hoping).
1/26/04
(2 Hrs)
 Here I have riveted together the rear spar of the vertical stabilizer. The triangular thingamabobs are the hinges that the rudder will (someday!) swing on. I was able to reach all of these rivets with my pneumatic squeezer, which is a real timesaver.
1/27/04
(1 Hrs)
 This is a pic of the front spar and internal ribs of the VS. Here the VS is "flying" to the right.
2/01/04
(6.5 Hrs)
 Here the skin is cleco'd onto the front spar assembly. Notice that the rear spar isn't attached yet. In this way, the bucker can reach into the assembly and buck the interior rivets while the shooter hits 'em with the gun on the outside.
Here all of the interior rivets (that need to bucked) are finished and the rear spar is cleco'd on. All that remains now is to set the rivies along the edges which can be done from the outside.
The Vertical Stabilizer is complete! I squeezed the edge rivets and blind riveted the rear spar in place and now this puppy is done.

Total construction time for the VS = 21.5 hrs.