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Tail cone skin alignment

O

Ottertrack

Member
I've been trying all day to assemble the AFT FUSELAGE ASSEMBLY on my RV-7A as per page 8-5. I can't get the tail cone skin pre-punched holes to align with the F-773 skins. If I get those holes matched up, then the 773 skin holes and the F-711 and 712 bulkheads do not match. If I clecoe the bulkheads to the F-773 skins, then the holes in the skins aft of the F-710 bulkhead gradually become about 1/16" too high relative to the tail cone skin holes. I'm sure someone else has had this problem and I would sure like to know how you solved it. Thanks a lot!
 
Not much other than commiseration.

My tailcone

It took a lot of pulling, pushing, a bit of bending and reshaping of the thick piece and a few tries of clecoing in different orders before it came together enough for satisfactory drilling.
 
++1 with what Bill said... reshape to get the best fit. If you look close at the part it almost looks twisted out of the box.
 
Tailcone

I think it would be better if Vans did not pre-punch the tailcone skin aft of the F-710 bulkhead. I'm wondering if maybe I should use 426-AD4 rivets aft of bulkhead 710 instead of AD3 rivets. I think I'll talk to Van's about it. Thanks for your advice!
 
If they did not pre-punch this part, you would need a jig to keep twist out. Keep working it, everyone goes through it. You will get the fit. :)
 
Ed,

Just make sure all the skins are lapped correctly :)o), and adjust the bulkhead flanges as close as you can to the taper angle of the fuselage. Note that that angle changes as you work your way around the bulkheads. The aft tailcone is a wrestling match you WILL eventually win.;)
 
Tailcone

Thanks Miles,
As I slept on the problem, the answer came to me...that's the usual way for most of us I'll bet. Even though I had the bulkheads matched perfectly to the curve and taper of the tailcone, that did not necessarily mean the skins would match. So I bent all of the tabs on 711 & 712 inward so they would not interfere. Then I had a good look at the curvature looking at the aft end of the tailcone and could see that I needed to correct that. That brought me to within about a 32nd inch. Not close enough, so will keep making adjustments until I get it perfect. I appreciate everyone's advice.
 
After building a -7 and operating a -4 on grass often...

I would put -4 rivets in that area. Seems like the holes got buggered up trying to shove Clecos in and just going to -4 would help with the alignment for sure.

-3 rivets stand a chance of smoking if you have a tail dragger and land in grass.
 
Tailcone

Thanks for your comments Sid. I fussed with the problem all day and finally got everything align perfectly. Since I'm building a 7A, I think I'll stick with the -3 rivets. If I was building tail dragger, I would surely use -4 rivets. I set the tailcone aft end on a piece of paper and drew the curve. That way I could tell if I was really bending it.
 
Congratulations.

It is one of the rites of passage that is not mentioned very often compared to others like the canopy and such. Maybe it is because it is short term pain. :rolleyes:

Keep trudging along!!
 
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