How much riveting experience did you have before starting your tail kit?

  • None - My first rivets are in my airframe!

    Votes: 62 19.3%

  • I dinged around with some scraps first, then got started...

    Votes: 94 29.2%

  • I built the Trim Tab kit (old school!)

    Votes: 29 9.0%

  • I built the Tool Box kit (new school!)

    Votes: 20 6.2%

  • I took a Builder's Class or seminar

    Votes: 62 19.3%

  • I'd driven the occasional aircraft rivet before

    Votes: 37 11.5%

  • I've built a metal airplane before - what's the big deal?

    Votes: 6 1.9%

  • I've driven lots of rivets as a repairman, A&P, assembler, etc....

    Votes: 12 3.7%
  • Total voters
    322
Ironflight

Ironflight

VAF Moderator / Line Boy
Mentor
OK, a quick poll of the masses that might help those who have yet to join the great adventure of RV Building....How much riveting experience did you have before starting your tail kit?

I had worked on airplanes since i was a teenager, wrenching and doing minor repairs (and some rag-wing restorations) under the tutelage of A&P friends, but had only occasionally dinged around with a few rivets on fairings and baffles before. I jumped into the RV by playing with the tools and scrap pieces for awhile. Many go for builder's schools or practice projects. I'm just curious to see where others started!
 
I had watched the sheet metal guys patch up the UH-60's I crewchiefed on but never did any before the tail kit.

First ones were ok but I did allot of research before hand.

I still hate 1/8" universal head rivets that require a double offset set in order to shoot them. I hate those things!
 
Count me in for None. You can also count me in for rebuilding after that! :)

I ended up using my first VS as an experience builder, the second one was no big deals after that.

Looking back, I wish I had spent a day working with another builder. They would have had some good tips, advice, and technique that I wouldn't have had to learn the hard way.

After learning the hard way, I'm not sure the toolkit or training kit would have helped much. I'm not sure the price of a tail class would have been worth the money. But spending a day watching and helping another builder would have been priceless.

I'm very happy with my ability to drive and squeeze rivets now. But I did take the scenic route to get there.

Phil
 
After I had ordered my tail kit, I took a tech counselor and his wife to lunch. An hour later we were at his house and I was getting RivetBangin' 101. 30 minutes later I had "graduated" and left with a bunch of "oh here you'll need one of these" tools. Best lunch money I ever spent.
 
A&P School

Paul,

I don't see a category for me. After high school, I went to A&P school and was "officially" trained. Hadn't driven a rivet in amost 15 years when I started my -8. I considered taking a class to get refreshed but ended up shooting about a dozen rivets in some scrap Al. "What's so hard about this" I says and hit the ground running. :p

Karl
 
Combination...

I attended the sheetmetal workshop at Oshkosh last July, followed by building another ten or so of the project 'spar' used in the workshop in my own shop.

These were followed by Van's practice kits-both old and new. Altogether, about 250 rivets before I started on my emp. kit.

Mike
 
I started on the airframe with no experience while I waited for a builder's class slot to come up. Martin Sutter was the teacher at my weekend class and I thought I would sail through with my little bit of experience. The truth is the part I made on the first day was pretty pitiful. The second part was a lot better and I'm glad I took the class before getting into the more difficult riveting.

I too, still hate those universal head 1/8" rivets, especially if I have to buck and run the gun.
 
None when I started. Well over 10,000 now! Apparently it was in my genes. My grandfather was a riveter for the Edo aircraft company during WWII.
 
I got the best training money can buy courtesy of Uncle Sam...Airframe Repair Technician School at Chanute AFB.:) But since it had been over 20yrs since doing any sheetmetal work, I ordered and completed one of Van's toolbox kits. It's like falling off a bicycle...err...riding a bicycle.:p
 
Last edited:
Well, I have not yet begun the real deal, but seem to have an addiction to practice kits. By the time I touch real parts, I will have done 1 toolbox, 3 "Van's practice kits," and supervised one more practice kit that my son is building. I also like the idea of drilling out the rivets and building them again.

One of my practice kits was in the EAA Sportair RV class. (The class didn't do much for me. I get more out of building on my own and reading VAF daily.)

:D I guess I'm running out of excuses and should really order a tail kit already...:D
 
Last edited:
I ordered my tail kit, wing kit and the tool box kit at the same time. The tail and tool box kits arrived at the same time. I took some of the scrap metal provided in the tail kit and practiced a few rivets in some holes I drilled, then I worked a bit on the tool box, plus I let my wife work a bit on the tool kit, then I said the heck with it and started building.

I woud have liked to have had some training on removing rivets, especially the 426 rivets, but it all worked out.
 
Well, I started working at Delta as a sheet metal mechanic in 1979, so when I started my kit in 1997 my biggest problem was getting used to the tiny rivets this thing is built with--airliners tend to have a lot of -6 or larger fasteners with some -5's thrown in! Also, .090 skin is much more forgiving than .032. I don't really see an applicable category in the poll.........
 
Need another category.

I fit in betweeen the last and the second from the last.

It might go something like this......

"Have significant aircraft structural repair experience, clean metal is nice!:)"
 
OK, OK.....

I added a category for all the folks that have had lots of previous experience as a fabricator, A&P, repairman, etc.....just hadn't built a whole airplane!

This should up the total poll count! :rolleyes:
 
BEEN THERE, DONE THAT.

jmbrwn said:
I got the best training money can buy courtesy of Uncle Sam...Airframe Repair Technician School at Chanute AFB.:) But since it had been over 20yrs since doing any sheetmetal work, I ordered and completed one of Van's toolbox kits. It's like falling off a bicycle...err...riding a bicycle.:p
Click to expand...

Me too!! .................16 weeks 1969 Still have all of the books.:D
 
I voted "Builder's class" and that was at Oshkosh. I still have the practice part and it totals 10 rivets!

Bob Kelly
 
Thanks Wally at Synergy Air

None,

But Wally at Synergy Air brought me up to speed. I was most petrified of having to drill out a rivet, but Wally got me up to speed (so to speak) and I'm on my way.
 
Riveting experience

My first homebuilt was a Pitts S1S. The only riveting I did was to put a flair on the bottom of the cowling to increase cooling air flow. I used a hammer to hit the shop side of the rivets against a metal bar. I didn't know it at the time, but I was backing riveting the flair on.

After solo flying Jim Pohoski's RV-4, the decision was made to build the Doll. After breakfast the following morning, Jim took me to his shop for a little training. We used a couple of scrap pieces of aluminum and set and drilled out several rivets. He offered to come to my shop for the first riveting session. When the horizontal stabilizer was ready for riveting, Jim was on a trip flying Delta airliners, so I decided to go solo. The result was the worst riveting on the Doll. I still wish I could do the HS over again. Actually, the riveting wasn't that bad, the dimpling could have been better. Oh well, most people think the Doll is a well built example, but I see every flaw.
 
Last edited:
None

None, I knew what a Cleco was, never used one, had seen them in the fly shop @ OSH...
I did a a little practice on scrap aluminium, then just started, July 15 1995 first flight Oct 19, 1996, RV6 N46RV,,,, still learning..........
 
Last edited:
Got to practice on my son's plane

My son started building his 7A first, so I got some hands on experience helping him :cool:
I waited until he got to the point where he was done with many of his tools and borrowed them when I started building. :eek:
I had ridden in an 8 for my first RV experience, but my first flight in a 7A was with him as well. I got a few hours and some takeoffs and landings in his plane while my was still under construction.
I've got less than 8 hours to go, and then I can give him a ride in my plane :cool:
 
I actually did two of the above... I bought both of the practice kits. One to get the anxiousness out of my blood so I could finally have an excuse to play with my new tools (built the toolbox) and the second one was the airfoil, where chris pratt taught me the basics of getting started! Best thing I ever did, so far, for that week!
 
Other RV's

I voted in the "I'd driven the occasional aircraft rivet before" category.
My experience before starting my tail kit was helping other RV builders...an RV-6A, an RV-6 (that's you, Sam :D) and an RV-9A.

I've had to take a break because of my father's death and some estate stuff to work out. I've also moved my RV factory into a new Man Cave. :eek:
So with the completion of some compressed air lines (not PVC as I did in my previous shop!) I hope to soon complete my rudder and elevators as well as order my wing kit.

Probably not what you were interested in Paul, but there it is. (Photos of my Man Cave to appear when I resume production.)

Don
 
Alexander Tech

I attended Alexander Tech tail kit assembly Class . The class was 6 LONG days and I came home finished tail kit . I learned a lot more that week than riveting . Well worth the money and time.
 
Just Lucky

I was very lucky to be stationed at CGAS North Bend in Oregon as a CG pilot and was lucky enough to have some AM?s who schooled me. They were very good at what they did and took great pride in getting it right. I would suggest finding someone to point you in the right direction, and give you a little insight, why reinvent the wheel?
 
My wife Mary and I drove our first rivets building our empennage at Synergy Air in Eugene, OR with Wally Anderson. We left 9 days later with the empennage complete.
 
One rivet in 1968

in 1968, I set one teensy rivet while in the Air Force. It was a mess.

The mechanic who let me do it got in some trouble w his sergeant, but I also got to observe a rivet being drilled-out.

Fast forward many decades, I took the a/c construction class from the EAA and was able to learn that I preferred working w metal. Then I took the RV construction class. It was enjoyable, but my projects looked like I set the rivets with a hatchet.

I also did (okay, started) the tool box. It was a great way to make mistakes that I didn't repeat on the emp kit, and to create some spare aluminum for practicing with various tools and techniques.

All was worth it, as the emp kit is going together just fine (if not slowly.)
 
Grov-Air

Took the two day class with Grov-Air in Indy building the control surface practice kit. Class was well worth it because Troy offered so many tips, tricks, and hints from personal repeat offender experience. The next rivet was in my VS.

Alan
Wright-Patterson OH
-9A Emp except tips, wing 1/3 along
 
My first rivet was driven at Airventure 2007 during one of the metal workshops held during the event. I did not rivet again until I had my tools and empenage in hand for my 7A. Did some test rivets under the watchful eye of Larry Perryman of EAA 302 in Conroe, Texas. The more you do the better you get. Practice....Practice....Practice!
 
I bought a new Sioux rivet gun and asked my friend and A&P-AI to show me how to set the air pressure and we smashed a few rivets. That was about 11,000 rivets ago.
 
Paul... just curious...

Does pounding rivets on the sickle bar of a combine header or a sickle mower count a experience in airplane construction? :D

Probably not directly but the experiences of keeping stuff running on the farm sure taught a lot of lessons......

Doug .... farm boy turned CIO but always a farm boy:)

working on the fiberglass top of the -10
 
Riveting experience

I helped a local RV4 builder for 4 months prior to deciding if I had (or could develop) the skills needed to build an RV. He recommended that I drive 1,000 practice rivets prior to driving the first "keeper" rivet. In return for my help on his RV4, he helped me rivet my empennage together.
The time I spent helping him with the RV4 was paid back in spades. He's an A&P, IA mechanic. The tips, tricks and help he gave me was worth my efforts on his behalf several times over.
Charlie Kuss
 
You must log in or register to reply here.