blucllrplt
Member
Have gotten thru the empennage with only a couple of tiny smilies with minimal drilling out poorly set rivets. Received my wing kit in August and have made it to the top skins on both with only a couple of "character" marks in the skin; one where my father-in-law was daydreaming and started bucking a rivet without me calling out "Ready" and another when I dropped my tungsten bar into the leading edge. None of these were significant and overall I have been pleased with my progress.
I have skipped the fuel tanks for now and started work on the ailerons. Making good progress during my break from work and congratulated myself yesterday on how nice and straight the trailing edge turned out on the first specimen. Got the top skin riveted on number 2 aileron and was admiring how good I was getting at bucking rivets. The 470 4-4 rivets holding the main rib to the spar were a little tricky to set on the first aileron so I decided to ask my wife for help holding the bucking bar. She's not a good bucking bar holder and during the operation the bar slipped and created a split rivet. No problem as I could just drill it out as nothing was damaged.
I got impatient and rather than wait for help I decided to attempt the task using my offset rivet set. I had to hold the gun in my left hand and bar in the right due to the orientation of the main rib. I wasn't holding the gun with the rivet set perfectly on top of the rivet and put a huge smiley into the side of the main rib which telegraphed into the spar. As past posters have observed, you feel all kinds of emotions after a major oops.
The rivet was able to be cleanly removed. I took some detailed photos of the damage and have sent to Vans for their opinion. Certainly not the worst mistake ever made but sure did knock me down a few rungs. Building will sure keep you humble.
I have skipped the fuel tanks for now and started work on the ailerons. Making good progress during my break from work and congratulated myself yesterday on how nice and straight the trailing edge turned out on the first specimen. Got the top skin riveted on number 2 aileron and was admiring how good I was getting at bucking rivets. The 470 4-4 rivets holding the main rib to the spar were a little tricky to set on the first aileron so I decided to ask my wife for help holding the bucking bar. She's not a good bucking bar holder and during the operation the bar slipped and created a split rivet. No problem as I could just drill it out as nothing was damaged.
I got impatient and rather than wait for help I decided to attempt the task using my offset rivet set. I had to hold the gun in my left hand and bar in the right due to the orientation of the main rib. I wasn't holding the gun with the rivet set perfectly on top of the rivet and put a huge smiley into the side of the main rib which telegraphed into the spar. As past posters have observed, you feel all kinds of emotions after a major oops.
The rivet was able to be cleanly removed. I took some detailed photos of the damage and have sent to Vans for their opinion. Certainly not the worst mistake ever made but sure did knock me down a few rungs. Building will sure keep you humble.
