The vertical stabilizer, rudder, horizontal stabilizer and elevators are now all at a point where they just need their skins and trailing edges. I'm waiting for my RV-9A friend to help me buck those. Though I could do it myself, I'd rather have four hands to mitigate denting.
Thus, I continue working through the sections. Next up is the aft fuselage. Lots of angle, J-stiffeners and longerons to cut and deburr. After that it's on to fabricating the horizontal stabilizer attach bar support and the rudder stops. These are provided as thick aluminum angles with only the rivet holes pre-drilled. So, you have to draw the cut lines...
...then cut them. I still need to sand the forward faces of the rudder stops smooth. Need access to a belt sender for that.
After that, it's on to match drilling the bulkhead for the vertical stabilizer. Fairly routine work, but I made the mistake of dimpling in the wrong direction. As I was looking at the parts in the way I dimpled, I realized it wouldn't sit flush against the vertical stabilizer. A quick reread of the plans indicated my error. Easily fixed just dimpling the other way. The dimples look healthy - no indication of cracking. Update 12-Jan-14: See how poorly this bulkhead ultimately looked. Update 29-Jun-15: The bulkhead was replaced after installation in aft empennage.
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