May 6, 2005
I built the rest of the structure today.
Here it is all rivetted togeter. No major headaches here...
Except more rivetting problems. Ok, I'm no A&P, but I'm getting better.
Update 9/20/05: Note all the scratches. This has been a consistent problem for me. I'm switching to AKZO epoxy primer for the sole reason that it's tougher to scratch up than the AFS. I really love the AFS product, but for a butter-fingers like me, the AKZO, I think, will work better
The skins are on. Check out the swirl marks. I hit it with the finest scotch brite pad I had in my die grinder. It turns out I left super nasty scratches all over the rudder skin when I was dimpling it. I have to build a frame for my dimpler. Overall, I am not happy with how my horizontal or vertical stabs turned out. Current plan is to keep on building, and when I hit some down time (waiting for an engine, or something), just spend a week and rebuild them. I'm sure I could rebuild them both in a week, and then I'll be happy with them. I'm sure it's not nescessary, but it's my plane, and that's what I intend to do. Frankly, I look on the whole HS and VS experience as a learning process. Instead of spending $1000 on a class, I spent $1000 in parts learning "hands on". :) So all is well.
