I meant to get a picture of this earlier; so here it is from the pilot's side. The arrow points to where I drilled out the existing rivet. While Aniko held a bucking bar to the outside, I tapped the countersunk rivet hole from the inside as flat as I could get it. Like the passenger side, I also moved the second column of rivets forward by 3/16" so that everything would line up. Hopefully I'll finish up the pilot's side tomorrow and prime/install the steps.

It's starting to look like an airplane. I haven't yet drilled the gussets behind the aft bulkheads. The plans call for drilling them into place, then fitting the skins. Seems kinda backwards since the prepunched skins will determine the bulkhead positions which in turn will determine the gusset positions. So, for now, they are clamped in place ready to be drilled to the longerons.

A shot from the inside. As I found out later, I should have moved the inboard end of the torque tube forward. This would have made the aft end of flange fit closer to the fuselage. Looking closely, the rivet spacing is a little tight down near the bottom. I don't think it'll be a problem.

I've been working on the top skins for the last couple of days. Now that they are clecod on, I got started on the steps. I ended up moving the 2nd line from the right over to the right by 3/16". This allowed me to set rivets along the entire line as called out in the plans. The single cleco is inserted into a rivet that's been drilled out. The spacing between some of the rivets is pretty close to the existing ones, but I think it'll all work out just fine. BTW, all the crap you see on the skin is duct tape residue from holding the step while I checked things on the inside.

Yup, I'm gonna need to remake the rudder stops. I got a little ahead of myself and made these critters a loooong time ago.

The plans call for 35 degrees of rudder swing. This is established by checking that there is an 1-1/8" gap between the rudder and trailing edge of the elevator. This is my gauge with high-tech adhesive and anti-scratch coating. There is one one each side of the rudder.

Finished up the VS attach plate and associated shim and riveted them to the VS front spar. I also drilled the bottom of the VS to the tie down bracket - what a pain in the ass. Suffice to say, I'm glad I invested in the smallest right-angle drill from Avery Tools as it just barely fit. Aniko helped to adjust the rod-end bearings on the rudder and it fit like a glove! The HS, VS, elevators, and rudder are attached! This is sooo cool...kinda like playing w/ Legos! The Vice-Grip is keeping the elevators in trail so that I can check/verify the number of degress of rudder deflection. Looks like I'm going to have to remake the rudder stops since I have way too much swing.

I placed bolts into the top and bottom hinges then secured the push-rod with good 'ole bailing wire (I kid you not). I also made sure that the push-rod was not contacting the floor. The Vise-Grip keeps the bottom of the VS from slipping out and also keeps the push rod "on top" of the hinges. Now, you may say that the push-rod does indeed flex, and I'd agree. However, this gives me a chance to inspect the VS front spar and attach plate and make any necessary adjustments. I can easily keep an eye on the middle hinge so that the push-rod is just barely contacting. In the end, I ended up having to insert an .032" shim between the front spar and VS attach plate. I'll make the permanent shim tomorrow and drill the attach plate into place. I'll also make the necessary mounting holes on the bottom of the VS. Then it's time to fit the rudder. Kinda cool to see parts all coming together.

Working on setting up the vertical stabilizer. The plans call out for laying a rule along the vertical hinge line to make sure that it's straight. Otherwise, you'll you won't get a smooth rudder as it binds during rotation. Problem is, I don't have a rule that big. So, I used the next best rigid structure I had handy - the elevator push-rod.

The left outboard bolt (in the picture) could have stood to have been moved inboard just a hair to allow a thin wall socket to fit -- but that's Ok. BTW, the nuts are temporary; they'll be replaced with self-locking nuts when the time comes.