HS and VS construction order

[g_e_young]

So I finally got the time to study the instructions and plans the last few days and I see that the order of construciton is totally different than when I built my -6. In those days, you completely built the spar and rib structure which was supported by a simple jig, and then you worked on getting the skin correctly positioned, drilled, and then riveted.

However, I see now that the idea is to sort of rivet everything at about the same time and actually build the HS and VS while laying on a table. I'm sure that will work but it sure is different than the old days.

Is there any reason I couldn't do it the old fashined way of building the structure first and then doing the skins?

Thanks in advance. Any info or suggestions on the build order would be much appreciated!

grant-

[Spike]

Are you talking about the final assembly process or just the mock up and parts prep? The 9 you mock up the skeleton to do the parts prep, then take it apart and build up the whole thing to prep the skins, etc. At least on the 9 if you build the skeleton first, you would not have any access to buck some of the rivets needed to close it up.

-- John

[Guest]

I'm pretty sure on the old non-pre-punched -6 you did the whole skeliton/spar assembly complete with riveting, and then did the drilling and riveting of the skin. We just bent the skin back and bucked away! I may be misremembering also.

gy

[Guest]

I don't know about the old days but I found the way I did it was quit easy. I was going to build the whole thing on the table but felt that it might be stressed at one end or the other. I built a cradle similar to the wing cradle on DWG 12A (leading edge facing down). That way there was no stress any were and all I had to do was reach down inside to buck the rivets. Leave the back spar out until the front spar is riveted. Lyle

[bmurrish]

When I was building my -8 HS stab I took it out to a local EAA Tech Advisor/RV builder to inspect my work. He mentioned the same thing about building the skeleton first then riveting the skin. I guess the build process has changed in the plans.

[Guest]

After some contemplation, I think I'm going to combine the methods in some as yet to be determined order..I'll keep you guys posted. There's just something about riveting the HS while lying flat on a table that spooks me out a bit.

gy

[bmurrish]

I recently completed -8 HS and VS following the plans step for step and it worked just fine.

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[jim_geo]

I bought the tapes of empennage construction the other day and have been watching them. Thirty eight bucks and the guy does a pretty good job of explaining the process. So much so that I think I’ll actually manage to build the thing.

[mustang]

I bought the tapes also, but in the end, they ended up confusing me. I kept thinking I should be using a jig but I never did build any supporting stucture whatsoever and it all turned out just fine.

I just built it according to the enclosed instructions and the only wrinkles were when I deviated from them.

If you wanted to, you could build the vertical stab first which is a bit easier than the horizontal.

Cheers, Pete

[captain_john]

Pete, the VS is certainly easier to build than the HS. I did it all in Van's order.

Aside from the fact that mine was an early kit (read: no pre-punching) the jig made it easier for me to work on because it formed a nice "workbench" to hold the assembled pieces.

CJ

[arffguy]

Mustang is right. Build the VS first since it is half the parts count and half the cost to replace. My friend building an RV-3 and I both decided to do it this way. We also matched the rudder spars to the VS spar at the same time. Why Van had people build the biggest and most expensive part of the tail first (HS) instead seems to be only because these are the most stout parts of the tail kit. The jig did help me hold the parts so I could rivet them by myself though. (Non punched parts)