It was a rainy morning at DOG Aviation, perfect
for a little R&R … riveting and rain or retired and riveting. Either way,
it means progress is being made on the RV-12.
The tail cone assembly plans call for riveting
the center line first … this is where the left and right bottom skins overlap one
another. The only exception is at the forward end of the tail cone no rivets
are to be set within 7 inches of the forward edge … also no rivets are to be
set at the far aft holes because the aft
bulkhead will be attached there later.
Beginning the riveting of the left and right
bottom skins to each other.
Completed center row where the left and right
bottom skins overlap.
Once the left and right bottom skins are riveted
together the plans call for the three fuselage frames to get riveted onto the
left and right bottom skins.
Riveting the center F-1209 fuselage frame onto
the left bottom skin.
Interestingly, the plans only call for the left
and right lower skins to be riveted to the left and right bottom skins but NOT
the fuselage frames at this time. Work began on this portion of the
construction, however I got called off the project to tend to a computer
problem before I could take a photo of the work in progress.