Piper J3
Well Known Member
I?m thinking about adding the Stiffener Kit to my already-built & painted RV-12 and have a few questions?
The kit contains three pieces ? one diagonal mounted brace on each forward fuselage side skin and one piece for the lower right firewall. My concern is about the pieces that get added to the fuselage side skins. I prefer not to add rivets to my already painted airplane especially in such a conspicuous place on the front side of the forward fuselage. I guess I can paint the new rivets but I prefer to not have it look like a repair to a nice pristine surface. So my question is? can these braces be fastened to the side skins with adhesive bonding in place of rivets? Modern-day aerospace and aircraft manufacturing are using a lot of structural adhesive bonding in place of rivets. This is being done for carbon fiber material and aluminum.
I would appreciate advise from anyone who has done this install on a finished & painted aircraft.
The kit contains three pieces ? one diagonal mounted brace on each forward fuselage side skin and one piece for the lower right firewall. My concern is about the pieces that get added to the fuselage side skins. I prefer not to add rivets to my already painted airplane especially in such a conspicuous place on the front side of the forward fuselage. I guess I can paint the new rivets but I prefer to not have it look like a repair to a nice pristine surface. So my question is? can these braces be fastened to the side skins with adhesive bonding in place of rivets? Modern-day aerospace and aircraft manufacturing are using a lot of structural adhesive bonding in place of rivets. This is being done for carbon fiber material and aluminum.
I would appreciate advise from anyone who has done this install on a finished & painted aircraft.