Brief Description: Drill & Tap Longerons for Fairing; Install Nutplat
Today I used the pop-rivet dimple dies to dimple the fuselage skin for the empennage fairing nutplates. The fuselage nutplates were then all riveted using MSC 32 pop rivets.Next I drilled the longerons to #36 and then tapped them for 6-32 screws. Once this was done I bolted the horizontal and vertical stabilizers back to the fuselage.Guess what I forgot to do first? Yep, countersink the side skins/longerons for the lower empennage fairing strips that are made from 0.025 aluminum, which are too thin themselves to countersink and which need to be dimpled. Damn! I'll have to remove the tail again to countersink. I don't want to free-hand rambo these without using the microstop countersink cage.
Nutplates installed on fuselage for empennage fairing
Tapping the longerons for the #6 empennage fairing screws
Horizontal and vertical stabilizers bolted on fuselage
