2.1 Hours -

After two more hours of tedious work, the vertical stabilizer parts are all ready for assembly.  Tonight, I finished prepping the VS rear spar.

First, I deburred the edges and holes of the rear spar and the rear spar doubler.  The spar was simple, but the double is quarter-inch thick aluminum and takes considerable more effort to deburr.  The holes are simple enough, but the edges have to be broken with a file as opposed to a dove tail deburr tool or directly on the Scotch-Brite wheel.  I’m still trying to get used to using a file.  I just don’t feet that it is very precise and it seems to make a mess of the part at first.  However, by breaking the edge with the vixen file and then finishing with the Scotch-Brite, I still seem to end up with a nice looking part.  Maybe I’m worrying about nothing!

After deburring the parts, I had to dimple and counter sink where appropriate.  The lower, forward portion of the aft spar needs to lay flush with a fuselage bulkhead, so flush rivets are used.  However, universal head rivets are still used in the upper portion.  Fortunately, the plans are very clear as to which rivets go where.  Anywhere flush rivets are used, the spar has to be dimpled and the spar double has to be countersunk.  The only challenge is to make sure you dimple/counter sink the correct side.

The lower, forward portion of the VS rear spar is dimpled so that it can lay flush against a fuselage bulkhead.

The lower, forward portion of the VS rear spar doubler is dimpled so that it can lay flush against a fuselage bulkhead

After dimpling/counter sinking, I scuffed both parts with a Scotch-Brite pad, then wiped them off with MEK.  Finally, they received a coat of primer.

After deburring the parts, they are scuffed in preparation for primer.

The VS rear spar doubler primed.

Now that all the VS parts are prepped, it’s time to pull the rivet gun back out of the tool chest.