Section 13 Spar Assembly

The main issue here is handling of the Wing Spars which are mostly fabricated by VANs (sight of relief from my wife...) but still need some assembly and riveting. They are 15ft1/2 long and weight 30 pounds each which means that one person can handle them but with care!
Nothing challenging, job done over two days for a total of about 8 hours of work.

Took a week off to watch the Fall colors in the mountain

Back in the workshop, inventory completed: not a part missing in the hundreds listed in the inventory by VAN's. These folks are amazing, they really know their stuff about the kit business and this results in less aggravation for us, the customers. I have now to do some home work on the issue of priming for the wings. My preference is to minimize priming to only what needs protection: bottom line, I do not want to prime inside alclad parts. The question is then: what's left that needs priming inside the wings?

The Wing Kit has arrived!

Two crates, one long slim for the spars and one fat and heavy for the rest. Both crates are visible on the picture:

Inventory on the way. The skins of the leading edge of the wings that are visible on the picture do not fit on my shelves, I will have to cut one stud between two shelves to stow the skins which are roughly 4ft X 4ft. As you can see, the crate containing the spars fits well under the tools workbench because it is cantilever with no legs (no, I'm not that smart, just lucky :-)).
And now I have to order the fuselage soon as I expect to complete the wings around new year and there is currently an 8 weeks lead time (BTW, it has gone down a couple weeks lately).

Green light for delayed empennage attachment

The fellows at VAN's Airforce Forum confirmed that the empennage attachment to tailcone can be postpone at least until the work starts on the fuselage. I found a nice temporary resting place for the tailcone: out of the way but not out of sight...

These empty shelves are crying for help: Bring the wings, bring them on, I'm ready!

Now What?

The wings are coming Friday but after the Tailcone is completed there is Section 11: Empennage Attachment. If I do it now I will have to store the wing crates in my garage which is not a problem but once I have done the empennage attachment I will have to undo the work to clear my workshop for the wings build. I do not see why I could not postpone Section 11 until I have done the wings and stored them but to make sure I have asked the advice on my fellow builders on VAF. We will see tomorrow what they say.

Tailcone finished, now what?

I just completed the riveting of the skins of the tailcone, a very satisfying task that resulted in something that begins to look like an airplane as the following pictures show:

On this picture you can see that the shelves in the background are empty: I have used all the parts: Time for the wing kit to come!

Now the classic view of the cascading ribs (every builder does it!):

I got another assist from Schmetterling when installing the trim wire as I described in this posting on VAF Forum.
Overall the instructions were quite useful with just a few omissions that could be worked around through educated guess or going to other builders sites like Schmetterling, my favorite. I found out that Schmetterling has a tendency to make the same mistakes that I do, so now I first read his log and learn from his ordeals which he does not hesitate to document in a very unselfish way. Thank you Schmetterling!

Tailcone: Page 10-04 = Mission accomplished!

Thanks to the wise guidance of my fellow builders on VAF RV-12 Forum, I finally overcame the issues mentioned in my last post. I did not need to buy new tools, I just used the Hand Squeezer and manual as well as pneumatic rivet pullers to complete the task. It was not easy which makes this milestone even sweeter.
The most challenging so far but I would bet there is more ahead!

Tailcone: Page 10-04 = Mission Impossible?

I don't see any way to set the following rivets with the Avery Hand Squeezer:
The rivets in question are supposed to go into the four holes that are just above the line of five rivets already set. There is not enough clearance to position the Avery Hand Squeezer because of the bracket in the way.

Yes, I know there is a smilie! Just a rivet that is making fun at my helplessness...