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Greg's RV-9A Builder Site
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Date: 11-21-2007
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Number of Hours: 6.00
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Manual Reference:
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Brief Description: Aft Skin...
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Cleco'd on Aft Top Skins, after a little fluting to get the bulkheads straight. Drilled the aft bulkhead gussets. Had to put on the aft skin, clamp the gusset in position, remove the aft skin far enough to get a close quarters drill in there, drill the gusset, and re cleco the aft skin. Will have to do the same with the forward(er) bulkhead gussets next time. Had a visit from my other EAA technical counselor, Jim Summers. He said I was doing a real good job. He's been around airplanes his whole life, and is an A&P. He was a mechanic on B-52's, and worked for Lockheed back in the day. I told him I credit the kit, and he said it's not all the kit, he's seen lots of airplanes and my workmanship was as good as any. That sure made me feel good, but honestly, I've seen lots of RV's with better workmanship. I try to make mine as safe as possible, and I try to limit the cosmetic blemishes, but there are plenty of those. I look at a bunch here on the web, and there are some really nice ones. He also brought along Mike Hathoway, the president of my local EAA chapter. He has built an RV-6 and is building another. He also said I was doing a real nice job. They asked me some questions about some stuff, and I got a few questions answered. After they left, I spent some time riveting the side rails, the Canopy Decks and the forward gussets. There is some really tight spots under the rails and decks, and I had to use an assortment of bucking bars, including the bottom of a dimpling rod, shown in my pictures. One spot I had to use pop rivets, where the canopy deck joins the side rail. It was just too tight for any type of bucking bar. The side rails came out real nice, and the two coats of paint I put on them held up under riveting to my amazement. After I was done, I put my mock up panel back in place to check it out. Looks good.
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Aft Skin Cleco'd On
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Side Rail Riveted On
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Skinny Bucking Bar!
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