VS

Inserted the VS skeleton into the jig again. It is ready for riveting

Dimpling the VS

Let the primer cure over the night and dimpled all the holes in the VS skin and skeleton. Tried it in the jig, just to see if everything fit. I have to wait for the controller person to sign it off before closing the structure with rivets.

Started on the rudder main spar and the reinforcement plates. The reinforcement plates are pre-made from Van's. When trying to position them, something was wrong with the R-406. The main hole was offset 3/16 compared to the hinges, so the whole plate would be pushed 3/16 down. This would make the rivet holes on the edge of the spar, and a bit outside. I thought I had measured wrong, but when looking at the R-406 and compared it with the drawings, I saw that the R-406 was made wrong. The hole for the hinge is 3/16 further up than it is supposed to be. I think I will make a new R-406 myself from another sheet with the same thickness and get Van's to send me a new sheet, so I don't have to wait for shipping.

Fixing up the VS skin

Finished trimming, deburred the skin and skeleton and primed the VS skin.

Trimmed the tip of VS

Used cutters and vixen file to trim the VS tip (0.5 inch from the rib). Tried the fiberglass tip, and it fitted almost perfect.

The wires arrived last friday.

Finished drilling the VS skin

Finished drilling the skin. When I took the skin off again, everything looked OK, no holes in the wrong place. Need to drill the two fore-most holes at the tip, but I have to take the skeleton off the jig first.

Drilling the VS skin

Finished marking on the jig and the ruler. Transfered the markings to the skin and started drilling.

Markings for drilling

Continued marking lines and holes and flutings for the drilling process. Drilling holes in the skin is next.

Primed the VS skeleton

Jig changed

Changed the jig for skinning the VS. Repositioned hinges and temporary vertical member. Need to prime the skeleton and rivet together before skinning. Wires are in the mail.

VS Skeleton ready for deburring/priming

After measuring and measuring again and ... the skeleton is ready for deburring and priming. The main spar must be installed in the jig.

Found another error in the manual/drawings, or at least something that is very easy to misinterpret and get wrong. In the drawings, the angles for the ribs are measured from the main spar. The hinge line on the VS is NOT parallel to the main spar, so when installed in the jig, repositioning the temporary hinges from the HS (as per the manual), the 5/8 inch offset of the HS-406 tip measured with a "water bulb thing" (as per fig 6.12 in the manual), cannot be correct. It has to be MORE than 5/8 to compensate for the offset hinge line, or the 93 degree angle will only be 90-91 degree. It looks like this has caused some confusion earlier, because the manual states that the drawings have been checked and rechecked and ARE correct. So this means that the manual is wrong. At least it mentions nowhere the importance of installing the spar in the jig so it is absolutely horizontal, or to compensate for the unparallel hinge line when using the hinges with no shimming on the jig.

Skeleton on the VS

Continuing with the skeleton on the VS. Lots of measuring and odd angles. Have to order some wires for lights. I think I will use LED instead of bulbs.

Main spar VS and rudder

Dimpled and countersunk the main spar assembly for the VS. Primed and riveted together. Had to use the rivet gun for the rivets closest to the hinges. Dimpled and primed the rudder skin and stiffeners, ready for riveting.

The new skins for the HS were not correct. Van's had bent them offset and to an angle to the correct bend line. They are sending new skins, but it makes me wonder if they have any quality control at all "over there".

Hinges on VS main spar

Finished drilling all the holes and mounted the hinges on the main spar for the VS.

VS main spar

Started on the main spar on the VS. Fabricated the VS-408 (for the second time...)and pilot drilled the holes.

Started with rudder

Sometimes I take one step fwd and two steps back. This time I did it twice... While waiting for new parts on the HS and VS, I continued with the rudder.

I made all the V-blocks for the rudder and elevator jigs, made the brake for the trailing edge bends and a countersink metal plate for the back riveting. Then I made all the stiffeners for the rudder and they are ready for being drilled to the skins.

Ordered a torque wrench, strap duplicators to drill the new skins and a few other things from Averytools, and reamers and drills from Aircraft Tool Supply.




It turns out that the HS-406 rib on the HS is a bit strange. The fwd part of the flange does not fit the skin, making it impossible to achieve the correct dimension at the tip of the HS (11 inch cord) while the skin at the same time fits properly on the HS-406. When my skins fitted properly, I measured a cord of 10.5 inches. I thought that it was obvious that the skin should fit the ribs and that the tip cord would become whatever it became. This was wrong, because the tip has to fit with the elevator and the balancing arm. According to Van's I should simply disregard the poor fitting of the fwd part of the flange by not putting any rivets there, because the strength of the structure is in the curvature of the skin, not the rib. I think this will look strange having unriveted flanges, so I ordered two new HS-406 ribs that I will modify so they fit, either by making the tip longer by 0.5 inch, or by widening the tip angle. I also ordered new skins, all the rivet holes were finished before I found out about the 11 inch glitch.

On the VS-408 I managed to cut the forking 9.5 inches instead of 8.5 inches. A new one will come with the skins for the HS.

So, the drawings are correct, even though the parts doesn't allways fit accordingly. It is therefor much better to modify the parts instead of "modifying" the drawings. Also, from now on I will allways wear glasses while building...