(page 10-03) Tail cone....                    

Finally a large part.    Well, the stabilator is limited to 8 feet  in order for the airplane to be trailerable on public roads, so I suppose that qualifies as big.  Not like the tail cone, though.

The first thing I did was discover an error (small) in the build manual (in Fig. 4, page 10-03 the labels on parts F-1284-L and F-1284-R are switched).  I checked the revisions, and found none for that page.  My RV-12 is the 593rd kit shipped, so all the other people who built tail cones earlier had to have discovered this error.  I e-mailed Van's and they replied with a three-word e-mail: "You are correct."

In trial fitting the curved pieces which attach to the left and right bottom skins (F-1281), I was at first convinced  they wouldn't fit.  Everything else has been a perfect fit (CNC is a wonderful thing).  I discovered, however, that if I started clecoing at the lower row of holes (with the skins upside down -- the holes closest to the saw horses) at each bulkhead, everything pulled into place as I worked my way up.  I could then cleco the long rows at the top of the curves.

Then came my favorite part: using the pneumatic rivet puller.  To my eye, those long rows of rivets are a thing of beauty.  The rivets within seven inches of the foward edge are left open for the attachment to the fuselage (still in the box).

When inserting the 1/8th-inch rivets through the holes in the aluminum sheet, the #30 holes through two or three sheets sometimes don't line up, preventing insertion of the rivet.  The holes are of the correct size, but the smallest misalignment of the sheets makes it impossible.  The clecos fit but the rivet shanks don't.  One option is to run the #30 bit through again, but I worry about chips between the sheets of aluminum.  I solved this problem (in 99% of the cases) by putting a slight taper on the end of a 1/8th-inch drift, then running this into the holes.  Twisting the drift helps.  This seems to pull the holes into alignment enough for the rivet to fit.

The edge-brake (break) tool discussed in an earlier post worked perfectly.  The slight down angle (2 or 3 degrees) made the long edges of the lap joints (the long rivet rows shown above) perfectly tight.  Leave the Blue Plastic Hell on while using the tool.