Well, I was able to finish up the riveting of the aft fuselage...solo! Amazingly enough, I found a way to get it done by myself with some clever thinking. Not that I don't like good RV builder company and I had offers...just that its so much easier to knock it out by yourself if you can. People are busy...have lives, etc, so its a hassle to try and coordinate those things sometimes.
Anyhow, it was really cool to see that big ol' assembly finished up! Certainly stepped back, smiled and admired my work after this while sipping on a cold beer. :)
For other builders that may want to try this solo, it really wasn't too bad once I figured out my strategy. I didn't think I was going to be able to pull it off...and then while standing back scratching my head, looking at it with a cocked head like a confused dog, I had a 'light bulb' moment.
This was my strategy...
1. Do the bottom rivets on each bulkhead to the bottom skin...I had one side skin off while doing this for better access.
2. Next, cleco both side skins and small aft tailcone in place.
3. Rivet the small aft tailcone to the bottom skin
4. Rivet the side skins up to the top J-stringer...no further. These are pretty easy to do.
5. Rivet the small aft tailcone to the side skins
6. Now it starts getting tricky moving to the bottom skin. Do the side skin/bottom skin seam on the forward portion up to the first bulkhead. It takes some long arms to get the last ones...I could barely reach them but you could back-rivet them if you cant quite reach.
7. The middle section-side skin to bottom skin is the difficult one. I used my back rivet set in the gun and my tungsten bucking bar to do these. Rivet gun, obviously on the inside, bucking bar acting as a back-rivet plate on the outside. This is a little blind on some of them...and an advanced riveting technique so be careful. Take it slow and be methodical--no hurry. Pretty easy once you get in a rhythm though. I was happy with the results.
Here are some pics....
Riveting away on the side skins...FAA shots. :)
I went back and forth on this dang bottom J-stringer. Should I put it on top of the small aft tailcone bottom skin? or under it? I'm not sure anyone else had as much agony over this decision as I checked other builders sites. :) I finally decided to go on top of the bottom skin...it does cause a small gap between the J-stringer and the side skin where it transitions but once you rivet it tight, its hardly noticeable. She'll fly.
Here is my fix for mistakenly putting a nut plate in there for the Adel clamp that will hold the rudder cable. For some reason I thought the Adel clamp went on the outside of the fuse?? Duh...not! Anyway, I fabricated two pieces of sheet alum and riveted them in place for some added strength for the attachment point. They are rattle can primed which is why they are dark gray.
Look at that nice smooth riveted surface....woooooweee, nice huh?
Bottom skin to side skin...first rivets are set by reaching from the front. You can see where the cleco's are still in place...that's as far as I could reach.
Now, you can see the results of back-riveting that final section in the center.
And voila...a finished (at least up to this point before we install longerons) aft fuselage!! Riveting things together is always the best part of the build.
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