I'm building an RV-3B and am now hanging the horizontal stabilizer and elevators on the fuselage.
I bonded and riveted the entire fuselage, using structural bonding. First, I'd bond a joint. Then when the glue was fully cured, I'd clean the joints up and rivet - the riveting wasn't concurrent. Here are the main take-aways from that experience:
1. It's a great way to triple the build time, because the prep is all labor-intensive. I had to do all the prep for riveting plus all the prep for bonding. The cost goes up too, but not as much. I'm not exaggerating the time factor here, either.
2. Almost every skin joint required one or more helper. I could not do these myself - and this was separate from the riveting.
3. I had to be careful and consistent with the process.
4. Once bonded, the joint was permanent - there were no options to unrivet something and do over. It had to be done right the first time.
5. When done perfectly, the finished joints look great. When done with less than perfection at every step, the joints reflect that, visibly.
So would I do it again?
Maybe, maybe not. Frankly, I don't see any reason to do that, but then again, I'm now too old to do it again anyway, so it's moot.
What were the main advantages?
When done very well, the joint appearance is excellent.
I didn't need clecos once the bond line had cured.
You can take a look in
my VAF build blog for more information if you want. I think around post 300 or so is when I began, not sure.
Dave