Vertical Stabilizer Internal Assembly

We finished assembly for the vertical stabilizer internal structure. The process was pretty straightforward, and also required some dimpling in the process.

Dimpling

The dimpling for the ribs were pretty straightforward. The front spar came dimpled in the kit. Ribs dimpling. Ribs dimpling. Ribs dimpling.

Rear Spar Assembly

Rear spar required assembling some doublers along with having rivnuts in them, which is described in a sub-section below. Rear spar clecoed temporarily. Rear spar riveted together.

Rivnuts

We had to install some rivnuts for the rear spar, which I’m assuming is probably for fairings down the line. Rivnuts installed on some spar doublers. Rivnuts installed on some spar doublers.

Ribs Assembly

Assembling the ribs was pretty straightforward, some holes had to be cleaned up with a 3.2mm drill bit. Internal structure riveting. Internal structure riveting.

Top Rib

The top rib was not riveted to the spar since we will be installing a Rami AV-12L Nav antenna in the tail fin. Top rib tempeorarily clecoed to install the nav antenna.

Tools

A new tool was used for installing rivnuts, amazon link can be found here. This tool is a drill attachment that we used with our cordless drill.