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alternate assembly procedure for RV-14 tailcone

Tom Martin

Well Known Member
The plans for the RV14 tail cone suggest clecoing the bulkheads, skins and skin stiffeners, fitting the tail cone area, and then riveting the structure together. (this is a greatly simplified version of the order of events).
I looked over the plans and felt that there was no reason that the skin stiffeners could not be back riveted to their respective skins prior to assembly as they are not directly connected to any of the bulkheads.
In the picture below you can see the two side skin stiffeners riveted in place. NOTE the clecoes in the aft bottom portion of the skin. This area can not be done until the lower tail skin is put in place. Leave out three or four rivets forward of the #10 bulkhead. This will allow you to slide the aft lower skin into place later in the assembly.

2u55nnm.jpg


The floor stiffeners can also be done this way. All the bulkheads went together easily and doing the stiffeners prior to assembly makes back riveting on the bench a thing of beauty. The bottom side skin stiffener is on the curved portion of the skin and it would have been a trick to have done it properly mounted on the final structure. The assembled panels look great.
NOTE that this procedure has not been approved by factory but it certainly worked well for me.


What a great kit.
 
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Great Scot!

I am right there fitting f1479 (cussing enabled) and was wondering how my bucker (wife) was going to hold up. This will dramatically reduce her effort in the cold garage and make her very happy.

Will attempt and report back if issues.

Thanks
 
Back riveting stiffeners

I'm doing mine that way. Got the stiffeners back-riveted to the bottom skin and it looks fantastic. Plan to do the same thing with the sides. Great idea!
 
I have another alternate assembly idea for your consideration. Looking ahead in the manual one of the jobs to be done is to rivet the shoulder harness bracket to the top skin of the tail cone, one on each side. These are riveted on with #4 rivets to the .025 top skin. This is to be done after the tail cone has been fastened to the fuselage and the main baggage bulkheads are in place. To me this just looked like a potential problem and so I back riveted the bracket assemblies to the skin before assembly.
When you make the bracket assembly, two parts to each, keep in mind that there is a left and a right.

2edmbfm.jpg


The following shows the brackets on the skins in the tail cone. I inverted the tail cone and back riveted the top skins together, thus the small brackets are on the top skin at the bottom of the picture. By rolling the fuselage around on the table (and supporting it in position) I was able to do the top skins by myself

10xblo8.jpg


I installed the baggage bulkheads today which could have been an issue with these brackets installed but things went together quite nicely. The plans should probably be changed to reflect this idea as it is really easy to back rivet them to the top skins and they look very nice installed with the forward fuselage and bulkheads in place.
 
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You guys need to understand Tom is a master! Listen when he speaks. The rocket community benefitted greatly from his thoughts:)

Tom why a 14?
 
Riveting fuselage skin stiffeners

Any reason this wouldn't work on the 9a also?i'm ready to start riveting my aft fuselage together and this would make the job much easier and neater
 
nut plates on 10-20 (he said 'nut plate..."

Hi,

I see that 10-20 shows specific locations for nut plates and that there are two locations on the longeron F-01418 forward of the indicated nut plate where we have prepped the longeron and related skins for a nut plate. It looks like these nut plates are used in the empennage fairing section 12-11 but they would be way easier to install at 10-20. Is there a reason to wait till the fairing section 12-11 to install these?

Thanks
 
Aft Fuse longerons

I have a question for Tom Martin.

Soon I will be riveting the aft fuse bottom skins. Can I rivet the aft fuse longerons to the skins prior to the assembly to the structure? Your post "Alternate assembly procedures for RV-14 tailcone" seems to suggest that that is possible, yet if I look at the picture that you posted, the side skins the F-01418B-L (R) longerons do not show.

Can I rivet them all and then assemble the side skins?

Your reply is veru much appreciated. Thank you much in advance!

Renzo/Italy
 
Back riveting setup

...The following shows the brackets on the skins in the tail cone. I inverted the tail cone and back riveted the top skins together, thus the small brackets are on the top skin at the bottom of the picture. By rolling the fuselage around on the table (and supporting it in position) I was able to do the top skins by myself...

Tom, what kind of setup have you done in order to "roll" the fuse over the steel plate (I guess this is what you're using right?) Is there a recess in your table where you drop the steel plate in so the plate is flush with the table surface?
 
Yes you can rivet all the stiffeners on before doing the bulkheads. If you have any doubts the clecoe a few pieces on and try the respective bulkheads
 
Marc
My plate is 3/4" thick and sits on the bench top. I surround the plate with 3/4" styrofoam. Inside I use pieces of styrofoam on the skin which allows me to lean in and put my knee on a board over this foam.
I roll the fuse to a location with a foot or so of rivets taped in place and then back rivet.
I hold the fuse in place with pillows, cushions etc.

Take your time and you can do the whole thing alone and do a nice job
 
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