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How'd you do that? F-01479 page 10-18

Reflex

Well Known Member
After spending two hours last night trying to get this assembly into place, I thought I'd better get some help before bending something. I've checked multiple builder's web sites and seems nobody is having much of an issue with it. Trying to figure out what I'm doing wrong. F-01479 goes between the F-01478 (skin) and the F-01411 bulkhead. I'm not having much trouble there, it's getting the skin to fit aft of this point. By the way, the plans are vague, I'm assuming that the F-01479 skin goes BETWEEN the stringers and the fuse skin.

How'd you do it?

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I'm not having much trouble there, it's getting the skin to fit aft of this point. By the way, the plans are vague, I'm assuming that the F-01479 skin goes BETWEEN the stringers and the fuse skin.

How'd you do it?

A little more detail regarding what you meant above might help.

Because of the finished / installed shape of this part vs how it is made, it will not be a perfect net fit.
It will require some pushing and messaging and use of a lot of clecos. Possibly every hole, and then remove them a couple at a time while riveting.
It really needs the side skin in place on both sides to be able to get it all pulled down tight.

A general rule of thumb for skin stack-up on RV's is that the skins always lap over, from front to back, and top towards bottom, with only a couple of exceptions.
For front to back think of what profile would pass airflow most freely, and top to bottom, think what would shed dripping water the best, to avoid it going inside.
 
What Scott said....

Not sure how much harder it might be on a taildragger, but for me it took some grunting, cussing, and bleeding but it got done....

Once all the pieces are in place and riveted, it's amazingly strong and rigid.
 
I also recall getting everything to fit in this area was tough. I did a lot of fit checks, and indeed had to use a cleco in every hole while riveting. Once done though it felt strong enough that you could park your truck on it.
 
It appears that I was as vague as the manual. My apologies.

I can't get F-01479 to fit aft of the F-01411 bulkhead. I can get it started between the bottom skin and the bulkhead, but that's it. I can't compress it enough to get it between the fuselage skins (left and right). I'm a long way from riveting as the assembly is still sitting on my workbench waiting for me to figure out how to get it to that point. The part needs to fit "dry" before I can even attempt to put clecos in.

Perhaps better questions would be:

  • Did you try to push it up from the bottom?
  • Did you push it in behind the radius of the rear skins at the bottom and then try to push it forward?
  • Did you have to compress the radius significantly on the F-01479 bottom piece?
  • Did you have to remove all the clecos from the F-01411 bulkhead to the rear of the aircraft?

It appears that the best and maybe the only way to do this is to remove all clecos aft of the F-01411 bulkhead and reassemble.

Thoughts?
 
I also remember having a hard time with this. I had to bend the side skins inward to eliminate the gaps, and IIRC the thick bottom skin had to be tweaked as well. Go slow and make sure all fits fairly well before riveting any part of it



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On mine, I took out some of the clecos from the side skins that were farther aft to be able to slide the aft bottom skin into place. I didn't initially think it was able to fit there, like others in this thread, but once it was all in place it fit like a glove the way Vans stuff just works when you put it together right.
 
Try it without F-01411 installed first.
On my 8 in this area I had to open up the slots for the longerons slightly as the longeron was not sitting all the way down in the bulkhead slot and holding the skin out a little.
 
I literally *just* fought with this step yesterday! I was having the same issue with mine. I had to really fight to get everything to fit just right. You are correct in that the aft bottom skin goes above the forward bottom skin and that it also goes between the side skins and the stringers. I removed most of the clecos from the aft end and had to peel the side skins away from the frame, while sliding the aft bottom skin forward and then used a little mechanical agitation with my palm to force the piece into place. I started by sliding the port side along between the side skin and the stringers and then as I could, I peeled the starboard side skin away from the stringers to get it over the edge of the aft bottom skin until it all fit into place. It is a bit of a struggle but it does fit eventually.

You will also have to massage the bulkheads to get everything to line up correctly. And as has been mentioned above, cleco every hole that you can get lined up.

Also, before you fit the piece into place, I had to break the side skin edges a little bit harder than normal to prevent a gap and as I started to rivet, it pulled the skins in together nicely. If I could ever figure out how to upload pictures into these replies, I would show you the results of my work yesterday.
 
Sincerest thanks for your replies. It's exactly what I was looking for. Last night I finally got the piece put in place. I removed a ton of clecos and did it pretty much the way didja described. In addition, I used a 1" x 2" piece of 1/64 ply as a "shoehorn" to get it the front portion started.

Unfortunately when I got it all put together, I found that my tail spring (U-00018) is not square. It's close, but not square. It's not far off, but definitely not square. I'll be taking pics and contacting the Mother Ship today about a replacement.

Now for a laugh, if you thought that piece/assembly was tough to put in....you ought to try and remove it!! Wow!

Again, thanks for all the help!

Fred
 
Its good to know that there are so many of us on the same step within a week of each other! I am just about done the tail except for leading edges and the tailcone.

I broke the bottom rounded edge of the side skin before dimpling but it will need more massage. Where the side skin meets The F-01479 aft skin I didn't get much break on at all and there is a fairly sizeable gap clecoed together. I really want to finish off these joints properly before I rivet. I tested running my cleaveland edge break tool over dimple, and while a pain in the ***, kind of works. I was also thinking of taking the skin off, letting it hang a few mm off my bench edge and running a hard roller over it. What are other people using as massage techniques to get those edge joints perfect for final fit after dimpling?



s2rb3Znh.jpg
 
After spending two hours last night trying to get this assembly into place, I thought I'd better get some help before bending something. I've checked multiple builder's web sites and seems nobody is having much of an issue with it. Trying to figure out what I'm doing wrong. F-01479 goes between the F-01478 (skin) and the F-01411 bulkhead. I'm not having much trouble there, it's getting the skin to fit aft of this point. By the way, the plans are vague, I'm assuming that the F-01479 skin goes BETWEEN the stringers and the fuse skin.

How'd you do it?


I had the same issue too. More you cleco, massage un-cleco and re-re-redo more the skin will fit with the aft bottom !
 
after edge work

I was able to get it near perfect after running the Cleveland edge tool between the dimples. I then followed with my with my handseamer. I would put the edge at the center of the holes to line up my bend, preload a little bit and then work the area above with my thumbs to make the bend and crease. This actually seems a decent enough way to get a nice edge break.

Very happy with the results:

0OnNIhJh.jpg
 
That's exactly what I had to use. The hand seemer tool (the vice grips with the metal plates if that's what its called!) and bend the edges rather than try the roller. I put a relatively significant break on the edge and when riveted in place, it was nearly seamless.

This is a fun section to work on, and as was mentioned in a comment above, nice to see several folks working on the same section!
 
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