Riveted the outboard nose rib to the front spar. Put the three pop rivets in the mid nose rib to spar to main rib (hint: bend the main rib slightly out of the way to make room for the pop rivet tool head). Started riveting the inboard nose-rib-to-spar-to-main-rib and began having all kinds of trouble. The short story is this is a very difficult set of rivets to put in due to the angle of the ribs in relation to the spar, limited access for the bucking bar due to the HS-908 angle brackets and the length of the rivets. I have drilled out more bent rivets than I care to admit (8+) on one side. I talked to Van's and they shared the following advice: It's ok to bend the main rib back to open up some working space. Do not try to use a double-offset rivet set because they never work. Instead use a single-offset rivet set, tape the set to the rivet gun so it doesn't try to spin while riveting and work with two people - one running the gun and one of the bucking bar. You also need to use the heaviest bucking bar you can fit into the work space. I have ordered the single-offset rivet set and am looking forward to being done with these rivets... what a pain. I have not done any riveting on the skin until I get the three inboard front spar rivets done in case I end up needing to replace some parts. Oh! Van's also said, "Get those three rivets in the best you can and get on with building. They don't need to be perfect, just set so none of the edges of the hole are visible. Boy, am I ready to move on with the project. The flush skin rivets are a piece of cake compared to all the trouble I have had with this set of three rivets.
