Now that the elevators, trim tab, vertical fin and rudder are all assembled as far as I can before the “Pre-Cover” Inspection (Canadian regulatory requirement), I’m finally getting to the home stretch of the empennage. All that I have left to do is assemble the horizontal stablizer.
It’s been a while, but some of the riveting had been started. Tonight I was able to finish the riveting on the rear spar.
Elevator Hinge Brackets
I began with riveting the elevator hinge brackets to the rear spar (HS-412PP and HS-413PP).
![](https://f1rocket-hangar.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/20200306_201254-940x1253.jpg)
Just to refresh, as this RV-8 tail kit is being constructed for the F1 Rocket, one of the mods that I needed to add to “beef up” the RV-8 parts was to add a 0.063 doubler on the forward side of the outer hinge brackets.
![](https://f1rocket-hangar.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/20200306_204140-940x1253.jpg)
![](https://f1rocket-hangar.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/20200306_204159-940x705.jpg)
![](https://f1rocket-hangar.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/20200306_213702-940x705.jpg)
Reinforcing Bar Riveting
Once the hinges were riveted on, I then finished riveting the rear spar reinforcing bars (HS-609PP). The picture below shows some of the area where I needed to finsh the riveting. The big 0.125 thick doubler is on the front side of the rear spar (another F1 Rocket mod). The 4 rivets on the right side are for the elevator mid-span hinge, and the rivets already set at the left side are all -5 rivets (5/32). Due to the edge distance of the reinforcing bars, that was as far as I could extend the -5 rivets. The remaining rivets are all -4.
![](https://f1rocket-hangar.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/20200306_222713-940x705.jpg)
Here is one of the obligatory selfie images to demonstrate that it is actually me that is building this thing.
![](https://f1rocket-hangar.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/20200306_215831-940x705.jpg)
And here is where my work completed for the night. All riveting is done. That horizontal stabilizer in the background is for the S-51. Eventually, I’ll get there too. One piece at a time!
![](https://f1rocket-hangar.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/20200306_222743-940x705.jpg)
Please comment. I love to hear from my readers. Thanks again for coming along for this ride, you make my work worthwhile.
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