Empennage - First mistake...

I'm a realist. I understand and accept that I'm going to make mistakes I'll need to fix throughout this project. I just didn't think I'd screw up so soon.

One of my previous posts shows how I was having issues when I discovered my pneumatic squeezer didn't have the adjustability required to squeeze the 1/8 rivets and I was making a royal mess of it attempting to use the manual squeezer as an alternative - not recommended.

When the squeezer parts showed up, I installed them and the results were immediate. Sooooo much easier having the correct tools for the job.

I had a quick look at the Section 6 Instructions, grabbed the Vertical Stabilizer main spar assembly and tried one of the larger AN470AD4-5 rivets. So easy. I grabbed another 5 and squeezed them too. Before I knew it, I had them all in.

Awesome! Done!..................Ah....................not. Except for the AN426 rivets at the bottom of the Spar, they're all in back the front. Bugger! Bugger! Bugger!

I then began drilling them out. It didn't take me long to realize this spar had morphed into a Practice piece. I'm now waiting for the replacement parts to arrive. Hopefully lesson learnt.

Here are some shots of the drilled out AN470 rivets. Some were acceptable. Others, not so.