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Empennage

Empennage

Elevator Spar Riveting Completed

I spent my time after work finishing up the riveting on the rear spar and completing all of the front spar riveting. The Cleaveland Tools bucking bar was awesome! It follows the design that Van’s Aircraft puts in the manual and I can see why they have that. It was Read more…

By olanandkate, 3 yearsApril 4, 2022 ago
Empennage

Final Elevator Prep and Initial Assembly

I spent alot of time this weekend getting to where I am now. It started on Friday afternoon with dimpling more skins, deburring a bit more on the skin edges, and just getting all of the parts ready for priming the following day. Saturday was doing some of the skin Read more…

By olanandkate, 3 yearsApril 4, 2022 ago
Empennage

Backorder has arrived!

My backordered VA-140 arrived a month or so ago and I finally started back up on the build. I took a break from building to get a shed built in our backyard. This was going to free up more space in the garage and it has been a huge help! Read more…

By olanandkate, 3 yearsMarch 29, 2022 ago
Empennage

Skin Dimpling Left Elevator

I got the skin dimpling done for the left side. I noticed that one of the holes must not have been drilled out when I was match drilling. I’ll have to reassemble that area and then drill that hole. Everything went pretty smoothly though. I didn’t have a good idea Read more…

By olanandkate, 3 yearsDecember 13, 2021 ago
Empennage

Left Elevator Deburring

I got almost all of the deburring done on the left elevator. I noticed that I had forgotten to prep the edge of the lightening circles on the front spar, so I got that done. I redid some of the fold work on the elevator skins too because it wasn’t Read more…

By olanandkate, 3 yearsDecember 12, 2021 ago
Empennage

Elevator Trim Access Panel Prep

After I had finished all of the match drilling yesterday, it was time to work on these access panels before it has to be entirely disassembled. I did both the left and right elevator since my missing hardware does not affect me prepping these parts. Getting the nut plate drilled Read more…

By olanandkate, 3 yearsDecember 11, 2021 ago
Empennage

Full Assembly and Match-drilling

I got all of the pieces done and assembled and match drilled up to Page 9-8 Step 3. Even though these are just like the rudder in a way, they have quite a few more pieces in total since you are building two at the same time. I did run Read more…

By olanandkate, 3 yearsDecember 9, 2021 ago
Empennage

Elevators – Pages 9-3 through 9-6

I got quite quite a bit of clecoing done today as well as a little bit of the match drilling. The coolest part was doing the tab bends on the E-1001A & B skins. Using the mushroom bit in the rivet gun worked like a champ on getting those bends Read more…

By olanandkate, 3 yearsNovember 27, 2021 ago
Empennage

Deburring, Fluting, and Initial Assembly

I spent quite a bit of time going through and deburring all of the elevator pieces minus the large skin edges. That took the most time out of all of this. I then worked on the 903 and 904 pieces to get them straight and level. Mine came pre-fluted but Read more…

By olanandkate, 3 yearsNovember 25, 2021 ago
Empennage

Starting on the Elevators

My son and I found all of the elevator parts in the attic and brought them down to start working on them. I’m not including the searching and inventory time in yesterday’s work. We got all of the protective plastic off of them and I cut the ribs per the Read more…

By olanandkate, 3 yearsNovember 24, 2021 ago

Posts pagination

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Aircraft Build Time

Airplane sectionBuild time (hrs)
S06 - Vertical Stabilizer22.5
S07 - Rudder34.25
S08 - Horizontal Stabilizer49.75
S09 - Elevators59
S10 - Tailcone75.75
S11 - Empennage Attach27.75
S12 - Empennage Fairings26.5
S13 - Main Spar18.25
S14 - Wing Ribs35.5
S15 - Rear Spar29.25
S16 - Top Skins32.75
S17 - Outboard Leading Edge34.75
Total446
Recent Posts
  • Section 17 – Outboard Leading Edges Complete
  • Right Leading Edge Partially Riveted
  • Left Wing Leading Edge Complete
  • Left Leading Edge Almost Installed
  • Leading Edges Riveted
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