Aft Fuselage Rear Deck

I prepped quite a few pieces this round saving on setup time.

This is the F-01414 - Aft Deck, primed and dimpled. Only the 8 holes shown here are AN426 type rivets, all the others are AN470 round head rivets.

...plus these four on the rear flange...

F-01409 Frame

I only noticed after I'd primed, that I hadn't rounded the faceted edges. Hence the next few shots here showing where I ran the edges over the Scotchbrite wheel.

I'm still amazed at how accurate the pre-punched parts are. Every now and then I need to run the drill through a hole to clear out some paint and maybe a tiny bit of aluminium, but for the most part all these parts fit together perfectly - Nice job Vans!!

This is page 10-27 - Aft Deck Installation

It's always satisfying finally putting these parts on to test fit, knowing how much work has gone into preparing the parts.

Yeah I know, the bench is really messy.

Had to find the longer 12" drill bit to ensure it was perpendicular to the face...

Even with the 12" bit, the drill was very close to rear flange.

This shows the angle I had to be on for the hole to be perpendicular to the face...

Drilling holes in the F-01411D Horizontal Stab Attach Bar Support Angle. This is one of the chunkiest pieces of angle in this part of the kit.

When you understand what it's attaching, I'm ok with that.

Now this one little rivet in the corner was trying to be difficult. I needed to contort the bucking bar into that small space to set that one.

Finally got to use my double offset cup rivet set - I knew there was a reason I bought it.

You can't have enough tools!!

Unfortunately, not everyone is competent in using them. Oh well, it's a learning experience. This one obviously came out...

Almost there.

Static Air Tubes & Antenna Cable Install

As the build has taken a break until I can relocate, I've not completed some of the more recent posts - I'd better do that now.

Regarding the static air system, I decided I like the Cleaveland Aircraft Static Air kit much better for two reasons:

1) the static air port on the Cleaveland system looks much better than a cheap rivet. I've read many of the discussions on Vans Airforce relating to convex heads creating a localized low pressure potentially affecting the measured static air reading, but from what I can tell, that's mostly propaganda and those using the updated system have no issues with them; and

2) the tube connections look and feel much more heavy duty than small t-pieces provided in the Van kit. These larger black connectors make it much easier to disconnect/reconnect if required as well as providing a good seal.

This shows the Vans supplied static air t-piece compared to the above...

Here, I was simply measuring the length of tube required to create a nice smooth bend.

As the next photo shows, even after I heated the tube with a heat gun, I could only get the tube on half the distance I was aiming for. I'll need to try again at some point to get it on all the way.

Here is the UAT coax antenna cable ready for connection.....which probably won't happen for another 2-3 years I'm guessing.

In a previous life, I worked in the automotive industry and I small trick I picked up was the use of cloth tape to reduce cable chaffing and damage caused by vibration.

Therefore, at each zip tie I've wrapped the cable with a piece of cloth tape for that reason. I know - there's probably a better chance of vibration along the cable where the zip tie isn't. I'll just have to keep an eye on that.

The next few photos show the rudder cables running through the bulkhead grommets...

This is the cloth tape I used as vibration/chaffing protection for the cables.

It comes in various widths.

Rudder cable guides

Although they look very blocky and not very aesthetically pleasing, they perform a function and hopefully they do it well and keep the cables away from skin.

These are the countersunk F-01497A Rudder Cable Guides...

before and after countersinking...or more accurately, after and before countersinking.

and both the F-01479A & B sets...

I was a few AACQ4-4 rivets short for some reason and had to order some more - yes, the initial inventory was checked and the quantities were correct as per the inventory - qty14.

As can be seen below, the centre of three of the rivets broke off flush with the rivet head and one of them pulled out completely. I've asked the question and apparently this is still considered ok. At least if that opinion changes, they'll be easy to replace. I may end up replacing them at some point anyway so they're all the same.

Done for now....until the rivet order arrives.

This shows the rudder cables installed and the cross-over required.

More riveting on the F-01473 right skin plus smaller parts

Most of the right side was done yesterday, so needed to finish it off today.

This edge sat out a little prior to riveting, so I'm happy the rivets have pulled the edge down flush.

Looks great, and straight.

Right F-01473 side skin done.

Time for the Rudder Stops. Need to counter sink the four holes in each to take an AN426AD4-6 rivet first.

As I began the first hole closest to the flange, I noticed a small vibration and under further investigation, I noticed the countersink was just touching (and cutting into) the flange - that small nick just above the hole.

That's not part of the plan.

I then took the grinder to it in an attempt the narrow the external diameter on the countersink. Below was my first attempt - you can see the ground section as the side should be vertical from the top down.

I might have just got away with it where the flange was at it's lowest, but not the rear hole...

I didn't take a photo of the end result, but needless to say, I had to take a little more off the countersink diameter to create these...

Now, I could see they weren't going to be very easy to set properly. I had to use the back-riveting tool on the rivets closest to the flange, but ironically, it was the easier rivet that gave me grief.

I used the normal rubber sided riveting head on the gun, but it fell off the side as I was riveting and therefore, I had to drill out another one...

I was able to use the pneumatic squeezer on the two rear-most rivets which obviously made it much easier.

The right side was the second Rudder Stop I installed. I'd made the mistakes on the left one so I wouldn't make them on the right.

There we go....all done...

Maybe not. I'll need to take a close look at this one as that's not very good but right now, still accessible.

It was difficult to line up because with the bucking bar in that tight gap and my hand holding it, there's absolutely no way I could see what was going on until it was done.

On to the nut plates around the inspection panel.

The top one is for countersunk external holes and has the same width and is held by the same rivets.

Top => K1100-06

Bottom => K1000-06

I again use the rivet gun and bucking bar as I had good stability for the bucking bar and the gun pressure was turned down a little which made it more manageable.

All nut plates done. Looks like those F-01473A angle stiffeners are next...