Tom Martin
Well Known Member
The plans for the RV14 tail cone suggest clecoing the bulkheads, skins and skin stiffeners, fitting the tail cone area, and then riveting the structure together. (this is a greatly simplified version of the order of events).
I looked over the plans and felt that there was no reason that the skin stiffeners could not be back riveted to their respective skins prior to assembly as they are not directly connected to any of the bulkheads.
In the picture below you can see the two side skin stiffeners riveted in place. NOTE the clecoes in the aft bottom portion of the skin. This area can not be done until the lower tail skin is put in place. Leave out three or four rivets forward of the #10 bulkhead. This will allow you to slide the aft lower skin into place later in the assembly.
The floor stiffeners can also be done this way. All the bulkheads went together easily and doing the stiffeners prior to assembly makes back riveting on the bench a thing of beauty. The bottom side skin stiffener is on the curved portion of the skin and it would have been a trick to have done it properly mounted on the final structure. The assembled panels look great.
NOTE that this procedure has not been approved by factory but it certainly worked well for me.
What a great kit.
I looked over the plans and felt that there was no reason that the skin stiffeners could not be back riveted to their respective skins prior to assembly as they are not directly connected to any of the bulkheads.
In the picture below you can see the two side skin stiffeners riveted in place. NOTE the clecoes in the aft bottom portion of the skin. This area can not be done until the lower tail skin is put in place. Leave out three or four rivets forward of the #10 bulkhead. This will allow you to slide the aft lower skin into place later in the assembly.
The floor stiffeners can also be done this way. All the bulkheads went together easily and doing the stiffeners prior to assembly makes back riveting on the bench a thing of beauty. The bottom side skin stiffener is on the curved portion of the skin and it would have been a trick to have done it properly mounted on the final structure. The assembled panels look great.
NOTE that this procedure has not been approved by factory but it certainly worked well for me.
What a great kit.
Last edited: