(page 10-04) Pneumatic rivet squeezer.......                            

For the first time, I understand why people bought one.  Building the aft-most bulkhead required a bunch of squeezed 1/8th inch rivets.  As you can imagine looking at the picture, many of them were hard to reach regardless of squeezer type.  The Main Squeeze from Cleveland Tool that I bought uses the same arbor as the pneumatic job, so that would have been an issue no matter what.  Of the 75 or so rivets, I had to drill out about five.  Realizing that I have to drill out a rivet usually results in a string of expletives that would do a drunken sailor proud.

I do, however, realize and appreciate the importance of this piece:  The stabilator attaches to those two ears protruding from either side from the flat surface.  I understand why Van's went with a stabilator for the -12, but when I put on my engineer's cap and ponder that pesky aero-elastic phenomenon called flutter, I wish they'd gone with a fixed horizontal stab with elevator.  I'd be willing to bet that the stabilator along with the loads it's capable of putting on the tail cone are what limits the Vne to 135 knots.  Considering that I learned to fly in a Cherokee (43 years ago!) and jointly own (along with 19 other guys) a Cherokee 235, I'm no stranger to stabilators.  They just have good and bad points.

Trial fitting this piece to the stabilator turned out to be a PITA.  The washers have to be super-glued into place in order to do the assembly, and so far, each time I try I knock one of the washers loose.