Hardest part.....                            

...so far.  Other RV builders who are further along would probably laugh the this statement, but the box spar for the stabilator offered more opportunities for confusion than anything else up to this point.  I had watched the Homebuilt Help video (well worth the money) for this, but apparently didn't pay attention.  There are a lot of flush rivets which must be counter sunk and squeezed, and I've developed a dislike for these.  I had to drill out 5 of them as a result of inattention to detail.  Listening to music and thinking about a problem the Spousal Unit (my tolerant, beautiful and brainy wife, Karen) is working on (analysis of a rocket nozzle using the method of characteristics for supersonic flow) is not a good thing to do while trying to interpret the plans for the RV-12.  I am, however, becoming fluent in Oregonian as I work my way through the plans.  Building an airplane involves completing ten thousand small tasks in the correct sequence.  I don't feel overwhelmed, but I definitely feel frustrated about the slow progress.

(page 09-02) A good opportunity.........                 

....for a mistake.  When attaching the spacers to the spar caps and in-spar ribs, it's not immediately obvious that the middle two spacers attach to the spar caps only and not to the in-spar ribs, as is done with the end spacers.  When I clecoed everything together, I did the middle two the same way I did the ends (wrong).  It made sense that each spacer would attach to both the cap and the rib.  The picture at left shows the correct arrangement.  Fortunately, the attachment was with clecos and not rivets.  I had to look ahead in the plans (always a good idea, anyway) to find drawings which made it clear(er).  I suppose the reason it is done this way will emerge as I continue with the stabilator.

I also discovered that the 100-degree counter-sink tools I have won't work for a hole which hasn't been final drilled for the 3/32 or 1/8th inch rivet.  The counter-sink tools which came with my kit from Isham have a #30 or #40-size nub on the ends which acts as a guide, ensuring a perfectly centered counter sink.  Many of the pre-punched holes in the parts are already the final size and the tools work perfectly.  Some, however, need to be final drilled, and therein lies the problem.  It's only a few bucks to order, but could have caused a delay.  I skipped the step for now (last time I did this, it bit me).

(page 08-02) Anti-servo tabs....                            

...No stabilator would be complete without one, or two in this case.  My worries about the holes drilled in the skins of the anti-servo tabs with the supplied drill guides appear to be unfounded.  When the piano hinges were clecoed to the stabilator skins and spars, the drilled holes appeared, for the most part, to line up.  When the clecos were removed to allow the rivet to be inserted, a few rivets wouldn't go, requiring the #30 bit to be run through the holes.  Overall, I felt good about this operation.  The holes in the drill guides did enlarge with use, however.  They've got to be used in another operation later, so I'm still a bit concerned.  The drill guides absolutely should have been made of steel rather than aluminum.

(page 8-03) Thought I'd killed a part..........

....which, of course, would require that I order a replacement from Van's.  I've avoided that particular embarrasment so far, though I'm sure it'll come. The skins and ribs for the anti-servo tabs went together easily, as expected, as did the horns, which required squeezed, counter-sunk rivets.  Ah, but the piano hinges.  The drill guides (the blue pieces in the photo) are designed to fit tightly into the hinge eyelets, providing a guide for drilling the holes in the correct places in the hinge.  Each guide has two rows of holes, to be used in two different steps.  With a little thought, it's clear that only one of the rows should be used.  I snapped the guide into place, clamped it down, and proceeded to drill the first two holes, one in each row.  After inventing a couple of new swear words (the normal ones being inadequate for the occasion), I realized that the mating part of the hinge on the horizontal stab (to be done later) needed to be cut an inch shorter than the one on the anti-servo tab, so I could cut off the mistake when I get to that step.  Whew!

Another issue involved the repeated drilling through the same hole in the drill guide.  Using the pneumatic drill, which spins at very high RPM, the hole in the guide enlarged with each hole drilled in the hinge.  The result was a bit of variation in the position of the holes.  This may be a problem when it comes time to rivet the hinge to the pre-punched holes in the skin.  I switched to the battery-operated drill, spinning at low RPM.  The drill guide clearly should have been made of steel.

(page 7-05) What a wonderful concept...                                  

....Spring break. No lectures to prepare and give, no papers to grade. In addition to the three main reasons for choosing teaching as a profession (June, July and August), all the other days off make it worth missing out on the money available outside academia. Finally, I can work on my airplane. I had finished the rudder skeleton yesterday, riveting the ribs to the spar. Then, clecoing the skin to the ribs went a lot smoother than the same operation with the vertical stab, which I expected since the ribs for the rudder are all the same length. All the holes lined up with very little coaxing.

Let me once again not miss an opportunity to

bitch about the time it takes to get the blue plastic off the large sheets of alclad.  I am not making this up:  30 minutes just for the rudder skin alone.  Next time I'll try heating it with heat gun.  I think if there were an easier way, however, I'd have read about it on the forums.

It was a great relief to get out the pneumatic rivet puller again.  I enjoy this so much more than squeezing the solid rivets.  I think the rivet puller supplied with the RV-12 tool kit from Isham could not be improved upon.

I started the anti-servo tab (more blue plastic hell).  It seems that this will be easier still.  The fuselage kit still sits in the crate.  I have 30 days to inventory the parts.  Problem is, I have no idea where I'll store the parts from the fuselage kit when I take them out for the inventory. 

The picture at left goes before the one above, of course.  I don't feel like taking the time to swap them.