Started work on the Empennage.

I finally got my hands on the Empennage Kit, after almost 9 months of waiting for it to be shipped from California, more problems with customs and the kit being trucked to Gympie and then returned to the shipping depot, the kit being held in storage until I tracked it down, numerous emails and phone calls I picked the kit up from Brisbane Shipping terminal..

After checking through all the parts I started on the Vert Stab, the Emp kit I have is over 20yrs old so nothing is pre drilled, that made things a little interesting, I took my time to make sure that rivets would fall in the right position and with proper edge distance, the assembly process took extra time, marking rivet lines, back drilling and double checking everything. I've now finished the Vertical Stab after around 4-5 days work and almost finished the Rudder.

Vert Stab Skeleton

Skin and frames drilled ready for deburing and dimpling

The old Vert Stab and the new..

Finished Vert Stab..

The Rudder skin is pre drilled as I bought it from VAN's ages ago to rebuild my original empennage  that I bought from a guy in LA, I had to scrap that empennage as the workmanship was atrocious, the worst sheet metal work I have ever seen. The pre drilled rudder skin made things a little easier and quicker, the rest of the empennage Hori stab and elevators aren't pre drilled so I'll have to make sure of everything before I drill, don't want to have a stuff up at this stage..

New Rudder frame drilled

Stiffener angles drilled ready for dimpling

Rudder almost finished, just need to roll the front section

Talking of stuff ups, I've bought a new canopy that is sharing a ride with a RV-7 finish kit back to Brisbane, thanks John. I have plenty of work to do finishing off the Emp kit and other jobs till the new canopy arrives in a few months time..

It's taking a while but I'm slowly working threw the rebuild, I'm really enjoying the work and the new challenges I'm finding along the way, Yesterday I had to work out how the install the last rivets on each stiffener angle, at the trailing edge of the rudder it tapers down to around 3/16th or 4 mm, there isn't much room to get a dolly in there so I ground a piece of 1/2in steel rod to put the rivets down, wasn't easy, I'm happy with how the rivets turned out..
　
　
Happy building..