The original plan was to prime today but decided
to just forge ahead and continue dimpling the remainder of the tail cone
components and have that task completed in total. The left and right F-1279
upper tail cone skins proved to be quite a challenge and took approximately two
hours each to dimple (twice as long as the other skins). The biggest issue being
the F-1279 skins are totally curved and also taper from fore to aft making it
necessary to continually make adjustments to the way the skin was propped up to
keep the holes in the skins square with the C-frame’s dimple dies. Nothing hard
really, just time consuming to have to constantly check to make sure the C-frame was
perfectly perpendicular to every hole being dimpled and adjust accordingly.
Making use of tall items with mass that were in
the shop to help
hold the F-1279 skin in position for dimpling with the C-frame.
Decided to finish up with all the dimpling and
moved ahead dimpling the F1278 tail cone top skin. Not all the holes receive
dimples … the holes for the triangular plate used for mounting the vertical
stabilizer’s forward skin do not need to be dimpled, nor do the seven holes aft
of the mounting plate for the vertical stabilizer. I elected to dimple the four
top holes that go into the fuselage frame for consistency but they will not be
seen and could just as well be the standard LP4-3 pop rivet.
Vertical stabilizer mounting plate slot and
mounting area for the
triangular plate used to mount the vertical stabilizer’s forward
skin.
For being a flat piece of metal, dimpling was
quite easy and very fast but the F-1278 top skin has its own unique challenges.
Because it does not have any bent edges or J stiffeners built in, it is very
floppy and just droops over the bench at an alarming angle. I did not want to
join the two work benches just for one piece of aluminum, so once again found the
pool noodles quite useful to support the skin hanging over the edge of the work
bench.
Pool noodles used to make a bridge to support the
F-1278 top skin during dimpling.
Return from the future: The portion of the top
skin between the F-1210 far aft fuselage frame and the aft bulkhead the plans
say to add extra break really needs it … especially the last 12” to 14”. If you
are planning on dimpling your RV-12 for flush rivets as I am doing, hold off on
dimpling the F-1278 top skin until the top skin is test fit onto the tail cone
assembly. Once dimpled, you can not add more break.