Final Tail Cone Priming

Primed the rest of the tail cone parts and the avionics shelves that I built.  Glad to that is over!  Priming = easy.......  Prep for primer = hard!

Tail Cone Riveting

Riveted the aft most bulkhead.

 Flush rivets this side for VS spar to sit flat.

 Main HS attach bulkhead.

 Rudder cable clamp nutplates.

 Yes, you need to dimple the mounting ears for rivets that are installed on dimpled mounting holes.
No...it won't hurt the nutplate and it won't damage your dies.

 Yep, they dimple nicely....

Installed the nutplates for the inspection cover plate.

 Riveted the angle to the battery/bellcrank mount plate ribs.  The front two holes on the right side do not get rivets at this time.

Then I riveted on the nutplates for the mount plate.  It is all removable.  I used NAS1097 rivets to mount the nutplates.  Pay attention because the front two nutplates on both sides are larger ones for bolts.

Tail Cone Dimpling

Tonight I dimpled as much as I can of the remaining parts and the skins.

I also riveted on the nutplates to the battery/bellcrank mount plate.

Waiting for better weather to prime the remaining bulkhead parts.

Tail Cone Prep for Riveting

 So I got started tonight by working on dimpling the aft most bulkhead.  I used the squeezer to get all these holes.  Just make sure the flush side is aft so that the VS spar can lay flat to the bulkhead.

 Dimpled these holes in the aft deck.

 Then I dimpled the rudder stop area skin braces.  The last holes are tapered toward the perpendicular flange which leaves very little room for the dies.  I have a set of dies from my RV-7 build that have been ground down on one side.    Almost a requirement in situations like this.

 Here is a closeup of the ground down dies, both mail and female.  If you do this, don't go past the female chamfered hole/edge or it will screw up your dimples.

Next I countersunk these holes in the rudder stop brace.  Yes I should have done this before priming but I could not miss the perfect priming weather we had last weekend!

 Then I countersunk the tie down bar.

 And used a Q-tip dipped in primer to coat the exposed countersinks.  See... no big deal!

 Dimpled the inspection plate covers with #6 dies.  These are bid dies and don't be surprized if they distort the area a bit.  They also push the limit on what AKZO can handle.

 Then I dimpled all the holes in the J stiffeners.  All bazillion of them.  I used the squeezer for all of them.

 Next I cut out these battery box and elevator bellcrank parts. 

Reamed these holes full size.

 Reamed these holes full size.

 Reamed these holes full size after using a drill to get the hole up to ream-able size.

 Deburred all the holes

 Some are too big for my one hole deburr tool.

 Some are blind holes and I used this tool to get to the insides.  It takes some wrist action but works great.

 Then I countersunk all of these nutplate attach holes on the battery/bellcrank mount plate.  I then touched them up with Q-tip dipped in primer.

 Match reamed the holes in the bellcrank assembly.

 Reamed the end holes in the bellcrank assembly to full size.

 Deburred all the rivet holes.

Deburred the larger hole for the bearing.

I will prime all of these remaining parts when I am priming the bulkheads.  I am waiting better weather so I can do it outside.   Much less mess!