F

flyingj

Member
I'm sure there is already a discussion about this somewhere on VAF, but now that I am about to start dimpling the skins, etc on my RV3 fuselage, I occurs to me that there are a lot of places that will be hard or impossible to rivet/buck unless I do it in the right succession. Can anyone point me to a thread that discusses this, or enlighten me on the general procedure?

A friend of mine said that he would recommend putting on all the skins except one side skin (these are flat and can be "rolled" on), but Van's plans call for the skins to be lapped forward-over-aft, and top over bottom, which would prevent putting the side skin on last.

I am looking for advice, experience and recommendations.
Thanks
Jim Frisby
Palmer,
AK
 
Hi Jim,
I worked back to front and bottom to top to get the overlaps
arranged as Van specified. The fuse is riveted inverted on the
jig and removed in the "canoe" stage with the forward and aft
top skins added later. With the top skins removed, there is plenty
of accessibility to install floorboards and systems.

You shouldn't start riveting anything until all the bottom and side
skins are completely trimmed, deburred, dimpled, and cleco'ed
in place.

Along the longerons in the tailcone area I installed a few temporary
rivets (15% - 20%) to keep everything in alignment while the tailcone
top skin was clamped in place. Then the open holes were
drilled through the top skin (from the inside out). After removing
the temporary rivets, the top skin drilling can be completed.

Hope this makes sense!

- Dan Benua
RV-3B (and others!)
 
Just to give you confidence in your choice - we did ours exactly the way Dan did - worked very well, and very naturally.
 
riveting the top skin - getting inside

Dan,
Thanks for the explanation, I had thought about doing the top skin last, but since it can't be "rolled on" like a wing skin, you have to either buck or back rivet from the inside.

Reaching the second and third bulkheads and the longerons in that area will require someone inside the fuselage. It gets pretty narrow after the second bulkhead, and I know I'd never have room to get in there.

Did you find a small person to do it? I have some grandkids that could do it, but the oldest ones are in second grade now and I don't know if I can train them to be reliable "buckers" or riveters.

A friend of mine who has built many various homebuilts and is now building a thunder mustang says, "it's a homebuilt. Use blind (avex) rivets wherever you want to" Don't know about that...

Jim
 
Hi Jim,
I was able to crawl into the tail cone to buck while my wife ran the gun outside. I won't say it was easy (I'm 5' 11", 185#), but it can be done. Your best bet is a small assistant :).
-Dan Benua
 
Don't forget - you can get the last few rivets on either side by reaching in through the rear bulkhead lightening holes. We were fortunate in that Louise is a world-class cave explorer, and cavers know tricks for getting their bodies into small places. Lacking appropriately-sized assistants, you could always look up your local Grotto of the National Speleological Society and see if you can recruit someone to explore your aluminum cave.... :)
 
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