May Progress

     I like the title of this post.  Like plans and instructions, it can be interpreted in so many ways...

     Actual work on the empennage began on May 19, when I removed the vinyl all the covered alclad parts except the outside of the skins.  Whether or not to remove the vinyl is only one of the many aspects of building a Vans aircraft that is subject to debate among builders.  I based my decision to remove the vinyl on several factors.  First, Vans recommends removing the vinyl as soon as practical, because the vinyl glue can become more difficult to remove as it gets older, and it can also trap moisture that can start corrosion.  Since I will be painting my aircraft flat olive drab and neutral grey and want to replicate the rough-and-ready look of a mid-war fighter that is being rushed off a production line, I'm not worried about tiny scratches on the skins or other alclad parts.  I keep my carpeted work surfaces as clean as possible, and wear gloves while handling parts to minimize fingerprints and smudges.  I'm leaving the exterior skin vinyl on to protect it while the skins are nested in storage and handled during match drilling, and removing it just before deburring and dimpling.

     Perhaps the biggest subject of debate has been priming and painting... even to the point that Vans has a running gag on their phone system about it.  While waiting on hold for builder support, I heard one of the automated voices say "We apologize for the delay; Vans is currently working on negotiating a truce in the primer wars", which made me laugh.  After giving this a lot of thought and research, including reading all of Vans recommendations and discussing it with their builder support and other RV builders, I've decided that I will only prime non-alcad interior parts.  Exterior parts will receive the proper primer and topcoat.  Given the expected use this aircraft will see, and the fact that I intend to always keep it hangared in a non-salt-air environment, I do not expect to have any corrosion problems during my lifetime.

     I started work on the horizontal stabilizer rear spar assembly, and completed most of the initial work in one day.  I discovered that I was missing two elevator hinge brackets, so I ordered them from Vans.  This should have been a no-cost item, but I paid extra shipping to expedite delivery as this was discovered right before the long Memorial Day weekend. 

     I painted the aluminum flange of the center bearing before assembling the bearing bracket.  I applied metal-etching primer and a top coat of flat camo green.

This was the very first rivet I drove on my aircraft... a momentous occasion.

     The plans call for using AN470AD4-5 length rivets on this assembly.  My first couple rivets seemed fine, but the shop head was very slightly undersized in diameter.  It was obvious that I'd have to overdrive the rivets to get them to fit the rivet gauge, and I didn't want to do that.  Later, I checked other builders websites, and learned that some builders used -6 rivets in this location.  I made a note to check with Vans about this later.  I drove all six rivets with the assembly clecoed to the rear spar; it seemed a better idea than trying to clamp it elsewhere.  I laid down towels to protect the spar from nicks from the gun or bucking bar.  There was one rivet I wasn't happy with; overdriven with a significant smilie on the manufactured head, so I drilled it out and drove another which looked much better.

     My next step was making templates for bending the 6 degree angle into the reinforcement angle, splice angle and front spar tabs; the spar doublers are manufactured with this bend in place.  I made one out of heavy paper stock, and another out of scrap aluminum. 

     I drilled the first batch of holes in the front spar tabs, doublers and angles.  I laid out and cut the tapers on the ends of the angles in stages using a hacksaw, grinding wheel, vixen file and scotchbrite wheel to sculpt the final shape.

     I got the 6 degree bends dialed in on the angle pieces, but held off bending the front spar tabs because I suspected some clearance problems.  If I had drilled and cut the relief holes on the spar tabs as they were shown on the blueprints, they would have come much too close to some of the rivet holes.  At this point, I figured I had enough questions to warrant my first call to Vans Builder Support.  I asked about the rivet size for the center bearing bracket assembly, and they said the rivets I set should be fine.  The adviser put my mind at ease with his relaxed attitude, reminding me that this wasn't microsurgery; I'm building airplane parts.  Measurements need not be made down to the thousandths (at least not in this instance); reasonable tolerances are to be expected.  That was good news to me, because I could sense that I may have been heading down the road to OCD with this project, and it would be unrealistic to expect perfection with the skill set I have now.  This is an educational project; it is under that premise that experimental aircraft are even allowed to exist. I asked about the front spar tab relief notch, and how the blueprint design would impinge on the nearest rivet hole.  Again, he said the notch didn't need to look exactly like the blueprint, and in any case it probably shouldn't be any deeper than the relief milled into the spar doubler, which is much shallower than the blueprint notch.  Creating the notch with a circular file and smoothing the corners and edges would be just fine.  Same with trimming the front spar flanges to clear the inboard rib; the blueprints didn't specify the angle of the trim, or any specific measurements.  The advisor said just make sure it clears, and isn't too close to the nearest flange/skin rivet hole... more on that later.

     My last question was about the aircraft serial number.  I had tried to determine what mine would be, and even after doing research through the VAF site and others, I hadn't drawn any firm conclusions.  I was told that, as the builder of the aircraft, I could assign any aircraft serial number I wanted to use, but it was common practice for most Vans aircraft builder to use their builder's number as they are specific to each individual aircraft, rather than the person doing the building.  I also learned that the first one or two numbers designate the model of Vans RV aircraft (3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12, 14) and the following numbers are the builder number of that model.  So in my case, 83507 indicates that I am builder #3507 of the RV-8 model.  Works for me; that will be my serial number.

     I also went to the FAA's website and reserved my tail number.  My goal was to create an N number that held significance to me, but more importantly it had to be something easy to read back on the radio; something that would roll off my clumsy tongue.  I wrote down some possibilities, and found a few available numbers that would fit the bill, so I reserved one.  And of course now that I had that piece of the puzzle, I went back into all my previous RV-8 artwork featuring my current paint scheme, and added the correct N-number to each drawing.  I also designed VAF and RV-8 logos that I will use on custom T-shirts, polo shirts, coveralls and flight suits.  Now that I'm officially in the club, I want to look the part.

This logo is for T-shirts and the back of coveralls and flight suits:

This logo is for the name badge on coveralls and flight suits:

This is the polo shirt logo:

     Back to building.  I notched the front spar tabs and bent them to the required angle.  Now the spars, doublers and angles all fit together properly.  As for the spar flange trimming, the blueprint drawing showed an angle that worked out to be about 19 degrees.  I chose an even 20 degrees as a starting poing, cut them with shears and smoothed the edges.  As building progressed, I realized they needed additioal relief to clear the front flanges of the inboard ribs, but I wouldn't know how much until I did a test-fit with the skins on.  I didn't know it then, but I was making things rather difficult for myself with this plan.  Meanwhile, the missing hinge brackets arrived, so I match-drilled them.  I fluted and deburred the ribs for both sides, and assembled the left skeleton to test-fit the skin.

     Getting the skin in place was a little more awkward than expected, and created some scratches on the inside of the skin around the front of the ribs.  But I adjusted my personal "be careful, you clumsy idiot" setting to a higher level, and soon it was clecoed nicely in place.  Test fitting the left inboard rib confirmed that more relief was needed on the front spar flanges... so that meant removing most of the skin clecos and carefully pulling the front spar away from the skin and ribs.  Some work with a dremel tool and the scotchbrite wheel on both the front spars and the front rib flange notches, and I had the clearance I needed... and now I also knew where the inboard rib needed to fit on the front spar, so I could do the work on the right spar before I test-fit that skin.

     The instructions say to do all the test-fitting on the left horizontal stabilizer and duplicate the process on the right one, but I ended up doing both somewhat concurrently.  As a result, I had to be careful not to miss a step... but I was working slowly and methodically, double-checking myself often, so nothing was forgotten.  Some of the spar holes can't be drilled until this stage, and some of the access is tight.  The Cleaveland Tools RV builder's toolkit didn't include an angle drill, and it looked like I might need one at this stage.  Harbor Freight didn't have one that was small enough, so I ordered an angle drill adaptor kit from Cleaveland Tool, along with a footed bucking bar.  As I continued working, I realized I could access the difficult spar holes using the long flexible bits that come with the original toolkit, so I used those to drill the initial holes to #40.  Once the inboard rib fitting was complete, I match-drilled all the skin holes to the ribs and spars on both sides.

     I removed the skins, assembled both skeletons and finished a few remaining spar holes.  The plans never mentioned having to drill the difficult spar holes out to #30, but I knew it was necessary based on the rivet call-out.  Nevertheless, I called and checked with Vans before resizing them, because it's easy to make a hole larger, but very difficult to make one smaller.  I wanted to make sure I was doing it right.  That was when I discussed the Primer Wars with the advisor, and made the decision to only prime the non-alclad parts with a light coat of metal-etching primer.  With all the drilling done, I disassembled everything in preparation for deburring and dimpling, which I will start tomorrow... June 1... after I pay the monthly bills, of course.

     So ends the eventful month of May.  I keep reminding myself that I have the luxury of time on my side.  Since I won't be able to order the wings and fuselage quickbuild kits for at least seven months to a year, I can move as slowly and carefully as I wish on this part of the project, which reduces the risk of making making the kind of mistakes that can happen from doing something before I'm ready.  I still have the SportAir Workshop and all of AirVenture to come... and that trip is getting closer.  The details of my itinerary are coming together and will include the VAF gathering Monday night, which should be especially fun.  I'm working on getting the custom shirts and overalls made, and will post photos when they are done.  Now that I have serial and registration numbers, I will pursue builder's insurance... and that may allow me to start a hangar lease at PTK.  Speaking of which, I am flying twice a month now with the instructors at DCT Aviation, in Warriors and Archers when the weather is good, and in simulators when it isn't.  The weight loss still continues; I'm down almost 40 pounds so far.  That's almost halfway to my goal weight, which is very encouraging.  As for this blog, I'm beginning to think I may make monthly entries here, since I've been doing the KitLog Pro entries daily.  I will play that by ear; after all, I'm used to that.  I've been playing songs by ear for fifty years now.  Hope I can say that about flying someday.. or at least come close.

Empennage in Possession

     While waiting for the empennage to arrive, I took down the paint booth, cleaned and reorganized the wood shop and made some modifications to the C-frame table to increase its tool-holding utility. I added short sidewalls along the 2x4 side braces, which hold my electric drill box and the Dremel tool box perfectly.  I also built in a holster for the rivet gun and air drill on one side.  I'm happy with the result.

     At 3:30pm Friday May 15, 2015, FedEx delivered my two empennage boxes in good condition.  I spent a few hours doing inventory; everything was there.  The game is afoot!

     The next day I organized the parts into four main groups: rudder, elevator, horizontal stabilizer and vertical stabilizer.  I also went through all the small bagged parts and sorted all the rivets into my existing containers.  As long as I was organizing, I built a dedicated rivet container shelf and added it to the front of my large shelf unit.  I suppose it wasn't really necessary... but I like to get as organized as possible before I start working.  Now all the parts are centrally located and categorized.

     I also made my first construction log entry in my KitLog Pro program... and ran into some difficulties.  After taking advantage of the freeware trial period a few months ago, I purchased the program.  Now I get an error message on startup, but it gives me the option of continuing.  I had trouble figuring out how to upload photos into the construction log, so I clicked on help... but help wasn't available.  To make a long story short, I figured out how to upload photos into the constuction log, and although help still isn't available, I'll manage without it.  I also uploaded my construction log to MyKitLog.com; it can be viewed at http://www.mykitlog.com/goatflieg.  So now I've got two building blogs to manage... but that's ok.  I'd rather have too many resources available to me than too few.
     I've been mulling over ideas for a blueprint table.  I had originally planned to build something similar to what Joe Schumacher made for his parts & blueprints on the TV show From The Ground Up.  But that would mean waiting until I have the wood from the wing & fuselage cases, which won't be here for another year at least.  I have a tall easel I built to use as a rudiment chart for my drum students, but I'm not currently teaching lessons at my house.  So I brought the easel over to the shop and modified it to hold blueprints.  Again, overkill... but I like working out these little details.  Then I thought of using one of my music stands to hold the assembly instructions.  That would have worked ok... but when I was taking photos and looking at the easel, I got a great idea.  Since the original easel went much lower than the area I needed for blueprints, I could add a folding bookstand to the easel.  I could build it at the perfect height and angle for reading the plans and examining the blueprints while standing upright, and it would fold up for easy storage.  I had most of the material on hand; I just had to buy some square wood stock to use as a paper shelf, and the cleat for the table support.  It came together very quickly... and I'm thrilled with the results.  It will serve its purpose perfectly!

     My next task is to study the pre-plans thoroughly, and review other builder's blogs.  I've had the current pre-plans for two years... and the previous edition for almost fifteen years.  But it was hard to get into them when the actual building was still a far-away dream.  Now the time has come; it's no longer a dream.  The preparation and practice kits are done.  I actually own some of the parts of my own aircraft, and they await my labors.  I want to do everything I can to make sure I do this as well as I can, and see this project completed and flying.

     To be continued... of course.

Tools, Tables, Paint Booth and Practice Projects

     April was a busy month, and May continues apace. I purchased the Complete Airframe Tool Package from Cleaveland Tool, and practice projects from Vans Aircraft.  I ended up with four practice projects.  Project 1 is a cellphone stand that came with the tool package, project 2 was the Vans toolbox, and projects 3 and 4 are Vans classroom projects; 3 is a riveting practice piece, and 4 is a basic airfoil buildup.  I also ordered a sheetmetal training video and aircraft painting book from the EAA Store.  In mid-April, just as I was ready to start working, I experienced a rush of self-doubt that put me in a slump.  It was almost as if my brain was calling my bluff.  After all this dreaming, wishing and waiting over more than a decade, was I really going to be able to do this?  Dreaming is easy... but building an airplane is a lot to learn, and a lot of hard work over a long time.  Could I trust myself to stay the course, follow the long learning curve, and actually build, finish and fly my own aircraft?  I'm sure most builders go through this, but I must admit it spooked me.  Once I actually started working, however, that feeling subsided.  I just took it one step at a time, and was encouraged by the results.

     After finishing up a large music archiving project and getting caught up on house chores, I started work on project 1.  I tried to make the first project a microcosm of the whole process: prep work, drilling, deburring, dimpling, painting and assembly.

     After the paint was dry, I checked my work.  My coverage was not perfect; I learned that I needed to be able to manipulate the parts as I painted them, rather than just try to paint them from a hanging position.  I figured I'd move on to assembly, and respray the completed part.

     My very first experience with riveting was at a two-hour sheetmetal workshop at OSH in 2010.  Although I didn't exactly follow their directions correctly, my actual riveting quality was ok... but that was because their rivet guns were set up properly.  When I began assembly of project 1, the squeezed rivets turned out fine... but the back-riveting was a disaster.  I had not set up my gun right; despite adjusting and testing, it had too much air, and too much power.  When I tried using the back-riveting set it went berserk, smashing the hell out of the rivets and skittering across the part, chipping paint and bending metal.  I was a bit disheartened, to say the least.  Here's the result:

     I decided to leave the finished stand as-is, as a testimony to my errors.  Lessons learned from practice project 1: Prime your part properly the first time; get proper coverage before proceeding; don't complete your painting prior to riveting; set up your rivet gun properly; finish painting after assembly.
     After completing project 1, I built up the C-frame table... and learned a few more things in the process.  I didn't read the materials list on the instructions carefully enough; they called for 3/4x2-1/2 lumber but I used standard 2x4s with actual dimensions of 1-1/2x3-1/2.  I cut all the pieces to the lengths they specified, and assembled the frame.  When I laid the plywood over the frame I saw the dimensions didn't match; I re-read the instruction sheet and discovered my error.  The width was correct, but the frame was an inch and a half deeper than the plywood.  I thought about disassembling the unit and recutting the cross-members, compensating for the increased thickness of the lumber... but it didn't seem worth it.  If I centered the plywood on the frame, I only had 3/4" of nicely rounded 2x4 extending along the front and back edges, which posed no functional problems, and the piece was much stronger than it would have been with the thinner lumber, so I left it as it was.  I notched the back for the C-frame post; drilled the hole for the rivet/dimple sets; covered the top, front and back with carpeting and added two handles to make it easier to move around.  After experimenting with the finished table, I added a filler piece of plywood that can be inserted underneath the C-frame to raise the lower pad for different rivet/dimpling sets.

     Then I started work on project 2, which was the infamous Van's toolbox.  I decided to do this as an unpainted project, so it went fairly quickly.  I was much happier with my riveting on this project; I got the gun dialed in, checked all my rivets with a rivet gauge, and found them to be decent.  But with every new project, there are new mistakes.  The first came with the hinge.  On the first lineup, I clamped it in place on the box, but instead of marking the holes and seeing where the marks lay on the hinge, I drilled some test holes, which turned out to be way off the center of the hinge flange.  Since the box side of the hinge is exposed, and the lid side of the hinge is hidden, I flipped the hinge so the errant holes would be hidden inside the lid.  The directions said to align the box edge with the hinge eyelets.  Since it would be very difficult to do a test fit because the lid flange is on the inside, I merely aligned the center of the eyelets with the box edge, match-drilled and set the rivets.  Afterwards, I test fit the lid... and realized the box edge was impinging on the lid flange, and wouldn't let the lid close completely without flexing it.  The most practical solution was to file down the box edge where the lid flange eyelets contacted it.  This took awhile... but it worked well enough.  In retrospect, I shouldn't have taken the directions so literally, and lined up the box edge with the bottom of the eyelets, rather than the center.  I should have also done more to achieve a test fit... maybe taping the hinges in place first would have worked.  The second problem came with the latch.  Riveting the latch bottom was difficult due to the two rivets being so close together, and the limited space for the rivet gun set.  The result wasn't pretty... but it was acceptable.  Despite being very careful with my hole layout on the lid for the hook, after riveting the hook into place I found that the latch wasn't very tight because the hook should have been just a bit higher.  This is the problem when you have to rivet things together that would have been better off being bolted, which would allow for some fit adjustments.  My solution was to wrap a small piece of electrical tape around the latch loop, taking up the slack and making it a smooth, snug fit.  The final issue was applying the Van's Aircraft decal to the lid.  I did my best to lay it on center-first and spread it out smoothly, but I still ended up with a few air bubbles underneath the decal that could only be purged by poking the bubbles with a pin and squeezing the air out.  The decal is flat... but because it's clear, you can still tell where the air bubbles used to be.  Oh well... it's only a practice project that served its purpose well, and I will definitely use it to hold some of my aircraft-specific tools.  Lessons learned: test-fit parts first, even if difficult; mark and check before drilling new holes; read instructions very carefully; grow a third hand to apply decals.

     After using my C-frame table a few times, I realized that the card table wasn't really sturdy enough to be trusted as a base for the C-frame, so I designed and built a dedicated table base constructed with 2x4 lumber.  I used a pedestal-like design that would bring the table to the same height as my built-in workbenches, so their work surfaces could be combined if required.  All the components were glued and screwed togther, so it's as sturdy as a rock.  I thought about adding adjustable feet for leveling, but I think I'll just use shims when needed.  The table top is not attached to the base, but I put fitting blocks on the bottom of the table so it fits snugly in the frame, but can be easily removed.  I tried to build this frame with a bit more precision than most of my 2x4 projects, and I think I succeeded.  It may not have been necessary for me to make this custom base for the C-frame table, but I'm glad I did.

     Project 3 was simply two pieces of aluminum sheet and one piece of aluminum angle riveted together as an introduction to the different types of rivets used in aircraft construction, and to familiarize the builder with blueprint notation for the different rivets.  This project only took an hour or two to complete, and I was happy enough with the result.  This project gave me my second chance to back-rivet, and although it's still not my favorite way to rivet, I'm satisfied that I can back-rivet properly now.  Lessons learned: rivet blueprint designations; pop rivets require a #30 hole drilled and some pop-rivets are slightly oversized; how to properly set-up and use a micro-stop countersink.

     Another task I had to tackle was to finish getting my woodshop properly set up as a paint booth.  Prior to this, I had turned a rolling garment rack into a mini-booth by boxing in one side with paper and cardboard.  That was fine for painting the small pieces of project 1, but I knew that anything larger would require a proper visqueen tent.  I came up with a very simple design of PVC pipes hung from hooks in my ceiling as the main frame.  Instead of gluing the PVC together, I lubricated the joints so that the booth could be easily dismantled.  I made a few wood cross supports for the booth ceiling, and draped thin visqueen across the top and down the sides.  I cut a hole for the vent fan and masked the visqueen to the frame perimeter.  In order to provide positive airflow to my somewhat anemic vent fan, I put an air filter on the intake side of a box fan and masked it to the opposite side of the booth,  In testing, I learned that despite the positive pressure created by the box fan, the thin visqueen was still sucked in from the sides toward the center of the small room.  I had to get some wood scraps and lean them along the side walls to hold the visqueen in place.  Overall, this booth worked well enough for now.  Lessons learned: future paint booth construction needs full framing, with the visqueen sheets properly attached along the perimeter of each wall; having access to both sides of the visqueen walls during construction makes it much easier to build.

     Project 4 is shaped like an airfoil section.  It is designed to familiarize the builder with forming and assembling a Vans control surface, although its design is a bit different from most actual airframe components.  It is a fairly straigntforward project with only 12 parts, but the details of construction and order of assembly are important.
     One of the things I've agonized over during the planning stages of building my aircraft is the nebulous subject of painting.  I've done a considerable amount of research on the subject, but it's hard to reach any firm conclusions.  When it comes to priming and painting, there are so many different opinions on what to use, what to do and how to do it that I found it hard to decide on a game plan.  Even Vans says, in effect, that you can do what you want, because there are so many variables it's impossible to say one approach is definitely the best.  The only consistent opinion is that any aluminum material that is not alclad really should be at least primed.  I've seen builders that prime all their interior surfaces, some that only prime ribs, stiffeners and the skin areas where parts come together, and some do away with priming any alclad parts because they figure that the possibility of corrosion becoming a significant issue during their own lifetime isn't very likely.  I intend to continue my research before deciding my own plan of action for my aircraft, but in the meantime I decided to try different approaches while building these practice projects to see if the experience would help solidify my own opinions on the matter.
     To that end, I decided that on project 4 I would prime the spar, trailing edge wedge, ribs and stiffeners and leave the interior sheet aluminum unpainted.  After assembly, I would mask off the ends and prep, prime and paint the exterior as though it were one of my own control surfaces.
     The plans called for me to make three tools; a slotted hardwood block for edge forming, a relatively thin bucking bar with a countersunk dimple-forming pattern in one corner, and an angle jig for drilling the holes in the trailing edge wedge.  I made several hardwood edge formers, but didn't use any of them.  I didn't make the bucking bar/dimpler, and later wished I had.  And I made and used the drilling angle jig, although I'm not convinced it was necessary.  I also made my own precision custom jig for countersinking the trailing edge wedge, which made that job accurate and easy.
     Cutting out the stiffeners from bent sheet stock turned out to be much easer than I anticipated, and match-drilling, deburring and dimpling was easy enough.  Priming the smaller parts was more difficult than I thought it would be.  Project 1 taught me that I needed to be able to stabilize the parts as they hung during spraying, so I made a special hand-held hook that I intended to use in the bottom hole of each piece to hold it still.  But I made it out of hanger wire that was too close in diameter to the holes I wanted to hook.  It got stuck in the 3rd part, and I didn't want to ruin the wet paint by grabbing the part, so it stayed there until I finished painting. This and other fustrations encountered in my flawed paint booth inspired me to create this meme:

     Most of the assembly of project 4 went well, despite a few missteps and retreats.  Getting the skins riveted to the spar was tricky because of limited access with the bucking bar, but I managed pretty well.  The only flaw I created in the skin was when I tried holding the rivet gun with my left hand; the rivet set walked a bit and dented the skin just below the spar.  Oh well; not too bad, so I'll live with it.  Setting the rivets along the ribs, I came to realize the necessity of the custom bucking bar/dimpler shown in the plans. As the rib narrowed toward the trailing edge, there was no room for a squeezer or standard bucking bar.  I really didn't want to stop the project for a few days while I had a mild steel plate milled to size, or waited for a new bucking bar to arrive from Cleaveland tool, so I improvised.  I used a brake adjusting tool that had the right shape for access.  It was less than ideal, but it got the job done without damaging anything.  I was fairly proud of the way the trailing edge turned out.  Setting the rivets using the process described in the plans worked better than expected, and the small amount of bowing I experienced was easily straightened out with careful working of the metal.  My first attempt at rolling the leading edge curve was less than ideal.  My biggest mistake there was not using the creasing tool on the top skin while it was still straight.  After both pieces were curved, access for the creasing tool was a problem.  I made a classic novice metalsmith's mistake: I tried using the creaser multiple times, and instead of creasing the part, it stretched the aluminum sheet along part of the edge.  So after setting the pop rivets, I ended up with big pillowing on one end of the top skin.  I couldn't do anything about it at that point, so it became the second flaw in the skin... but that's what practice projects are for.  I masked the ends and sprayed the top skin flat camouflage green, and the bottom skin matte grey.  Not exactly matching shades to Olive Drab and Medium Grey, but the closest I could find at the local hardware store.  Lessons learned: build ALL the special tools called for in the instructions; don't rivet left handed, or get some practice first; crease the edge before rolling; crease, don't stretch.

          Well, the practice is over... at least, until I take the SportAir Workshop at OSH.  It's time to sink or swim. At 5:40pm today, I ordered my empennage.  Decades of dreaming, waiting, planning, preparing and practicing are over.  Decades of building, flying and being the proud owner of my own homebuilt aircraft begin now.  The learning will always continue.  Wish me luck.  Oh... and one last lesson learned: stay caught up on this blog, so I don't have to create such long, drawn-out posts...