Tail wheel leg

Suddenly remembered that the vertical stab cannot be removed before first removing the tail wheel leg. Drilled and reamed the hole. Got a nice fit.

Vertical tail installation

I'm going to make the whole tail section removable. The only thing needed is screws instead of rivets on the lower section of the vertical tail. Had to fix the upper angle bracket first so it is in line with the rivets (screws)

Polishing and paint

The vertical fin painted, and started polishing the fuselage.

Vertical tail skinned

My controller was here yesterday and signed off all the things. Finally I could rivet on the skin on the vertical tail. I am very pleased with the result. A 31 drill (instead of the usual 30) and relaxing a bit on the deburring really makes perfect fit flush rivets with the stem correctly positioned into the rivet.

up-drilled the vertical tail

When the electricity came back after the hurricane Ivar had come and gone I updrilled the vertical tail using 31 drill bit (and 30 for the tip).

Vertical tail skin and tips

Pilot drilled the hinge and the rest of the skin and tip. The skin was still too tight around the tip, so I trimmed the skin a bit. Still it was too tight, so I had to trim the tip as well. This time I only trimmed it so a thin fibre glass was left. After I reinforced it on the inside with two layers of glass cloth and epoxy.

Vertical stab tip

Drilled pilot holes for the fiber glass tip. Filing the inside front and trying to push it as far back as possible should allow it to fit without having to cut it up in the front.

Vertical tail

Deburred the vertical tail parts. Discovered that 2 ribs were defect, flanges were bent offset the center by several mm. The main spar channel was also a bit off center. Very irritating, if the Sonex people had just looked at them - once - before packing them they would have seen it. Tried to put the skin on, and somehow it fits.