Tailcone Bulkheads

Tailcone has been complete for about 2 weeks and I have to say that it's been my favorite part of the kit so far! Overall I'm very happy with how it turned out, and today I decided to give it another look over. On the two forward bulkheads (mainly the most forward ones), I appear to have some distortion above the two rivets above the J-Stiffener (there is a relief cut). It's kind of hard to pick up with a camera, but I've taken a couple of pictures. Looking at it closely its very hard to pick up anything, but I believe there is a little bump (no dent luckily).

https://photos.app.goo.gl/4ZjNWm6WtmsfTzCc9
https://photos.app.goo.gl/fKtnyqEAy6cXty8y7
https://photos.app.goo.gl/E9FFXUhndje7CdVK9
https://photos.app.goo.gl/ButQZKWP2RoUqrbf8

It is also worth noting that some of the flanges are not perfectly flush and after asking Van's I was informed that structurally it's not a problem. One of my guesses is that the top part of the flange is being pulled into the skin too much creating this distortion/bump. Throughout the build I have made sure to round every curved edge in order to remove the faceting and I remember doing this for this area (maybe not enough?). I was thinking that if I try removing the two rivets holding the flange down and use a piece of plastic to ensure that bottom part of the flange is flush it will relieve pressure from the top, but I don't want to make it worse. I'm wondering if this is a common issue in this area, and if there's any other way now or down the road to fix it (I will be painting). Fuselage is arriving in November, so I've been having too much time to obsess over this

Commenting only on the external photos - looks OK to me. Bare aluminum tends to magnify the look of minor skin indentations/bulges. These tend to be barely noticeable when painted. I doubt they're structurally an issue.

Some people have had some concerns with oil-canning of skin in the tailcone and some have even added stiffeners. The only issue that has been addressed by Van's is some skin cracks on the forward bottom skin around one of the bulkheads which was addressed with an SB (https://www.vansaircraft.com/service-information-and-revisions/sb-18-09-17/)

Thanks Turner! That's what I'm thinking and once it's painted it'll probably disappear. Drives me crazy at the moment, but I think I'll need to relax as it's cosmetic. Thanks!

Jarrett said:

Thanks Turner! That's what I'm thinking and once it's painted it'll probably disappear. Drives me crazy at the moment, but I think I'll need to relax as it's cosmetic. Thanks!

Click to expand...

You can take out some of that distortion along the bulkheads by striking the shop head of rivet with a hard wooden dowel (aka. broom handle) and small nylon/rubber mallet. This will push the rivet "out" a bit and the corresponding deformation of the skin will disappear.