Empennage: Aft fuselage. Aft deck.

Be mindful of the rivet lengths called out for in the plans here.  Many are not correct.  A rivet sizer is valuable.

I was able to squeeze more of the rivets here among three different yokes:  1) 3", 2) longeron and 3) 4" deep no-hole.  The remaining rivets (most the ones aft of the horizontal stab attach support angle) were bucked.  The ones in the corners at the bulkheads were extremely difficult to do.  I don't have any suggestions yet other than to be mindful of your bucking bar so it doesn't slip and wreak havoc.

Working in the living room wastes a lot of time:  I keep going up-and-down the stairs to obtain and return tools!

Here is the aft deck fully riveted except for one AD470AD3 and the pesky corner rivets called out in red in the plans shot below.  That lone AN470AD3 rivet just aft of the stab attach bars should not be a length -4 as called out for, but a length -5 (the material thickness is about 0.160" so with 1.5x protruding prior to bucking, the length should be 0.301 which is a -4.81 size rivet, or a -5).

 

I'm still mulling over how to buck those corner rivets.  I managed to buck two of them with reasonable results.  One of them clenched over and another I didn't try.  So I'll probably drill out the clenched rivet and try again.  Once I research some different bucking bar shapes, I'll post on how I ultimately managed these guys.

That took me, working solo, 5.25 hours.  And I forgot to rivet in the nutplates on the longerons, so now I'll have to buck those rather than squeeze them.  D'oh!  In the end, I think it's easier with the nutplates off anyway, since bucking bar access is easier without them.

Below are the results of removing the rightmost deck angle (F-1412C) rivet.  As always, I start the process with my punch, then I drill a #52 through the shaft.  Then a #42 through most of it, but not all.  Then, with a lot of pressure, I drill the head with a #33 to twist it off.  Then I used my #40 punch to drive the rivet out.  You can see why I wanted this rivet out (left).  Then I was concerned when my #52 hole seemed so off-center (center) but after removal, it was clear my drilling was spot on (right).