Tonight I worked on the vertical stabilizer (VS) and the attachment of the VS-705 nose rib and VS-704 root rib to the front spar. When building the standard RV-8 kit, this would normally not be an issue. However as I have modified these parts to convert these parts to an F1 Rocket fin, some changes needed […]
Vertical Fin Reinforcing Plates
Another F1 Rocket modification to be accomplished is adding additional reinforcing plates to the vertical fin spar hinge attach points (in the top and mid locations). The additional plate at the upper fin location is made from 2024-T3, 0.063″ material and trimmed to be large enough to pick up all the rivet holes of the […]
Vertical Fin – Rear Spar Riveting
Today I will continue with riveting the doublers on both the vertical fin front spar and rear spar. Since I left off the other day having finished riveting the flush rivets. I then continued with the AN-470-4 rivets for the rest of the VS-808PP rear spar doubler. In the pictures below you’ll notice that I […]
Vertical Fin Dimpling and Riveting
Today I began with dimpling the VS-803PP rear spar. For dimpling I use the DRDT-2 dimpling machine. This is one of the “Must Have” tools. Yes, it is an expensive piece of kit but it is well worth it; not only in consistency of the dimples but also in being able to work quietly. As […]