Progress

What a lousy weather week in Texas! It was mid 30's and drizzling every day during the week. Still spent 1-2 hrs per night on VS prep to get ready for the weekend, in cold, miserable conditions. Usually had the heater blowing right on me.
But the weekend started out beautiful. Finally able to get the bouganvillas out of the garage, clean up and spread out.
8.9 hrs since last post.

Wednesday - Match drilled the VS skin
Thursday - disassemble VS and debur ribs and rear spar.
Friday - Debur VS skin and front spar. Received confirmation from Bob Avery that the #30 countersink bit is wrong. He thinks it might be for a #6 screw. Other builders have noticed this issue, and a new #30 bit is in the mail. I have to say I'm very pleased with the support and service I'm receiving from Avery, Van's, and all of the other suppliers I'm using.

Saturday - Major progress today. The AN426AD4-6 rivets arrived from Van's so the front HS spar is finally riveted.

HS front spar flush rivets are done.

The weather was perfect for priming, so finished priming all HS parts.

All HS parts primed and ready for riveting

And while the primer was drying, dimpled all VS parts an countersunk the VS spar doubler. Had to really go deep on the countersinking in order to match the dimples in the spar. This took a while since I had to keep setting the countersink cage deeper and redoing the 18 holes that require flush rivets. Used the drill press to do this countersinking, since I had a nice flat surface to work on.



Also drilled the last two holes in the bottom rudder hinge bracket as per drawing 27A. Used the drill press to drill 1/8" holes in the hinge bracket, then match drilled the hinge, doubler, and spar with a #30.

Closeup of countersinking and dimpling.

After all this work, ready to assemble the HS, and prime the VS.