More elevator riveting!

 Yesterday I put the two elevator skins together for each elevator to form the elevator.  Cleco'ed the rear spar to the skins.

 Then I cleco'ed the ribs together making sure to have them overlap properly.  Did both elevators.

 Next I squeezed the rivets on the rear spar to skin where I could.  Have to leave the top skin area clear in the area of the trim tab.  This is because those rivets also hold the hinge on that gets installed later.  Did both elevators.

 Next I had to rivet the ones that I have been dreading for months.  You have to use this special long bucking bar to reach up under the skin overhang and blind buck the rear spar rivets outboard of the trim tab area.  I drew a centerline on the bar to make sure I aligned it properly under the hole.  Had to remark it occasionally but it worked well!

 Turns out this was not bad at all.  I took my time and these rivets came out great!  No damage to the skins either!  So glad this worked out!  Did both elevators.

Today....I pop riveted the rib halves together.  It is very tight in there but I got it done.  Luckily my rivet puller was able to reset between the ribs without needing to use a special spacer as called out in the plans....  Easy but time consuming and the hands were tired by the time I was done!

 Right side ribs all tied together for good!  Did both elevators.

 Next the front spar gets pop riveted to the ribs. Cleco'ed.....

 And done riveting.... Did both elevators.  Van's is really getting skimpy with the hardware they provide.  When I built my RV-7 they always gave you way more rivets than you needed.  With this kit, I have 5 LP3-3 rivets left over.  They were way short on AN426AD-3-3 rivets....I had some left over from the 7 and used them.

 Next I used the 4" no hole yoke to squeeze the front spar flange to skin rivets.  Easy Peasy!   I did both elevators.

Right elevator done.  I put the blue tape on those holes that don't get rivets yet.

 Left elevator done.  Same deal with the tape.

 Next I squeezed these 4 rivets on both elevator root ribs.  Two in the rib flange to rear spar web.  Two in the root rib web to rear spar gusset.  Was able to get both elevators with the small squeezer yoke.

And finally for tonight I finished riveting the root rib flange to skin and the front spar flange to skin rivets on both elevators.  It is OK to rivet these front inboard rivets now since the reason for leaving it open has been accomplished (riveting the gusset).

The elevators have been a ton of work.  Most so far I think.  Most number of parts, most number of weird part arraignments and most number of awkward riveting situations.  It gets even weirder soon with foam ribs and trim tabs to work with!