Tailcone order of assembly

[jdm1248]

Hi all, With the tailcone parts all ready for assembly, I noted the following on rv10.org:

"If working alone, you can get away with riveting the bottom skin stiffeners to the bottom skin before clecoing the side skins on -- and you can back-rivet these."

Anyone gone this route that would care to comment? Could you also rivet the frames to the bottom skin at the same time before clecoing together the rest of tailcone. I don't yet have anyone to help with riveting (live on an island) so if this can be done in this order it would save me time.

Thanks for sharing any experience!!!

Jeff

 

[jacoby]

I built the tailcone solo. I followed the assembly instructions and back riveted everything I couldn’t get to by hand. It’s a real pain and any sort of helper would go much faster and you won’t run the risk of back riveting off the plate. Later on in the build you will need assistance. You can’t realistically do the wing skins or many parts of the fuselage solo.

 

[jdm1248]

I built the tailcone solo. I followed the assembly instructions and back riveted everything I couldn’t get to by hand. It’s a real pain and any sort of helper would go much faster and you won’t run the risk of back riveting off the plate. Later on in the build you will need assistance. You can’t realistically do the wing skins or many parts of the fuselage solo.

Thank you! Good to know it is at least possible. Do you have a "quick" build, and if not do you think that would reduce the number of impossible rivets? I can import some help but hopefully can limit the number of sessions. At least I have long arms

 

[jacoby]

Thank you! Good to know it is at least possible. Do you have a "quick" build, and if not do you think that would reduce the number of impossible rivets? I can import some help but hopefully can limit the number of sessions. At least I have long arms

No I did everything slow build. With a quick build fuselage you would avoid a lot of the hard rivets but you still need to attach the tailcone to the fuselage. I don’t know how you would do that solo. Same for the cowl to the fuselage and the top skin between the tailcone and the cabin and the wing bottom skins.

 

[lr172]

Thank you! Good to know it is at least possible. Do you have a "quick" build, and if not do you think that would reduce the number of impossible rivets? I can import some help but hopefully can limit the number of sessions. At least I have long arms

I purchased a kit with qb wings and fuselage with tail already finished and installed. Across the entire build, i think i only had rivet helpers on maybe 200 rivets. For example, riveting the top fwd skin. I did require help each time i took the top on and off and help getting my completed wings on and off the table. Other than that, had very little help. There are some obvious jobs, like installing wings in the fuse that require assistance, but 99%+ of riveting can be done solo on qb kits if your arms are long enough and are a competent riveter.

 

[jdm1248]

I purchased a kit with qb wings and fuselage with tail already finished and installed. Across the entire build, i think i only had rivet helpers on maybe 200 rivets. For example, riveting the top fwd skin. I did require help each time i took the top on and off and help getting my completed wings on and off the table. Other than that, had very little help. There are some obvious jobs, like installing wings in the fuse that require assistance, but 99%+ of riveting can be done solo on qb kits if your arms are long enough and are a competent riveter.

Thank you Larry, That sounds very promising.

 

[lr172]

Thank you Larry, That sounds very promising.

NP. My memory may not be crystal clear, but had very little help. I suspect there were quite a few 5 minutes here and there where my kids held something, but it was very limited.

 

[jdm1248]

As a follow up I was able to easily back rivet the forward bottom skin to stiffeners and frames first, before assembling the rest together with clecos. Then I fortunately discovered my wife was good at using the back rivet bucking bar that I had purchased from Cleaveland so that make the rest of the tail cone go fairly easily not sure she is as happy as I am about this discovery.