Completed the elevator pushrod. Had to work a little to get the threaded caps in the ends. A little 3M wheel torture convinced them to go in.

Also completed the elevator trim assembly. Ran it through it’s paces by hooking up a 9 volt. This was one of the most enjoyable parts of the kit so far. It was fun to build and nice to see the trim motor running after it was together.

I’m trying to get all the sections like this completed so I can get the elevators and rudder on, test fit, and off in one day.

The Vertical stabilizer was attached the other night. Getting a little big for one side of a two car garage. Going to have to get all the little items prepared before I attach the rudder and elevators. Elevator push rod, electric trim motor and attachment, etc. I need to be able to put the elevators and rudder on and take them back off in one day. That way the “better half” will be able to keep her spot in the garage.

Did some cleanup of the garage, errrr… RV-10 Production Plant this weekend and moved things around to try to accomplish most of the empannage attach sections.

Looks like I’ll be able to do most of it, if not all. The pic shows the horizontal attached to the tailcone. Well, mostly attached. There were a few missing AN3-11A bolts that I have to find or order.

Finished the tailcone tonight. Finished up riveting the aft top skin. Cool part about this is I back-riveted almost all the skins. A few places in the aft tail and around the curved edges were bucked, but the rest was all back-riveting. The forward top skin is attached when the fuselage is attached to the tailcone.

After the skins were on, the battery/bellcrank mount was assembled with the specified hardware. I’m finding out that alot of the bolts specified in the kit contents are not there and a shorter set is there instead.

Last section was bolting on the seatbelt harness attach brackets. Man, this was a sight to behold. Me crouched inside the tailcone, trying to get the nuts tightened up with a 3/8 box wrench. I was wore out by the time I got all six tightened up. Guess I’m no spring chicken anymore.

Now it’s a choice between ordering the wings or doing a test attach of all the control surfaces. Not sure which yet.

Total Hours on Tailcone: 55.5 Total Hours To Date: 178.5

Finished the aft deck this afternoon. All riveted and hardware installed. Just have the aft top skin and bellcrank/battery channel assembly to finish before the tailcone is wrapped up.

Not sure when I’ll get the next kit (wings) ordered. I owe the gov this year so that will take a bite out of my wing kit budget. I’ll probably wait a bit and finish up the test fit of the entire tail and maybe get the fairings done.

Priming is done and I’ve started riveting the tailcone together. Both side skins and the bottom skins are on. It’s taken about 13.5 hours of riveting to get to this point.

I was able to back rivet most everything on the sides and bottom. The only exception was a few areas near the aft most tail section.

I installed the Cleaveland static ports rather than the Van’s pop rivet type. I think these have a more professional look. They aren’t that expensive and they are installed easily. Just match drill the three attach holes, dimple the skins and countersink the static ports and squeeze a few rivets. I installed one on each side.

Not much (well, none at all) in the way of pictures this post. I’ve finally finished deburring and dimpling all the holes in the tailcone. Took a while, lots of holes. Started priming and was able to get all the bulkheads and battery channel riveted.

Finally got the N-number reserved. It will be N428RV. $10/year to the FAA lets you keep the number reserved.

Also got on the waiting list for a small t-hanger at Deer Valley Airport (DVT).

Fabricated the elevator stops and matched drilled them along with the aft deck. Turning into a pro at fabrication of these parts. After a few of them it’s nothing anymore.

Also match drilled the shoulder harness brackets. The whole assembly was then tore down and is now lying in pieces on the garage floor. :( I hated to do that after getting it all together. Lots of deburring, dimpling, counter sinking, and priming to come…

Got the top skins on and matched drilled. Everything is now on and match drilled except for a few small parts that need to be fabricated.

Took some measurements of the garage to see if I will be able to fit if I attach the fuselage to the tail when it’s complete. Tim Olson has some measurements he just posted. I think I’ll just be able to make it, which is nice.

I have to include a photo of the inside. It looks much better in person. It’s a shame I have to take it all apart one more time. You can see all the stiffeners that need to be match drilled running along the sides, bottom and top. This took a bit of time to make sure they were all lined up and such.

Was able to make good progress today on the tail cone. The left and right side skins were put on and match drilled to the stiffeners. No extra holes in my fingers today.

The pieces are getting larger the further along I get in the kit. Gives you a better idea of things to come. Now that the neighbors can see this from the road they are all stopping over to have a look. Makes for good conversation.