Vertical Stabilizer - progressing

The vertical stabilizer is almost finished. Here are some photos of the progress.

Dimpling with the squeezer.

The rear spar and doubler countersink'd and dimpled.

The doubler on the front spar riveted.

 

Back riveting the AD426-4 flush rivets. I later
found it easier to use the squeezer, and used that
on the hinges.

Using the squeezer on the AD470 rivets.

All finished.

I've read about other using laser to guide during dimpling
of large skins. And as I had a laser diode lying around, I constructed a
fixture in the CAD and printed it on the 3D printer.

The skin all dimpled.

Close up of the laser diode fixture for the C-frame dimpler.

The frame is riveted together. It was a bit difficult to rivet the two lower ribs
to the front spar.

I had to mix a some primer because I had done some
sloppy work during spraying.

I had to create a fixture to easily rivet the skin. And it turned out to work
ok. I've now completed all the rivets on front spar and have the only
along the VS-707 left on the hammer, before completing the edges
with the squeezer.