Riveting forward fuselage question

hi,

i am riveting the forward fuselage and I have put on the bottom skin f-772 in preparation to rivet. when i go to rivet the area highlighted in red (from dwg 24), the 7 rivets are supposed to be 4-6. 4-6 was short for me for whatever reason, so i used 4-7. Then as i got down to last to, the rivet before last, i can only put 4-8 then the last one, where the bottom skin is sandwitched between side skin and F-704, the rivet i used was 4-9. That is three sizes bigger than what Vans called out for in plans! Did I make a mistake somewhere?



Image of bottom skin inserted between side skin and f-704

Check the drawing again.
Make sure the bottom skin is sandwiched or suppose to
Be on the inside. Looking at last pic will help.

I don't know any details on the -7

On my -8 however there are lots of mistakes, inconsistencies, build order errors and stupid stuff in my plans and instructions. On the other hand most of the build is truly amazing as to how things fit.

If something doesn't look right, sit back and think about it, ask questions or call Van's before you jump in.

As far as your rivet lengths go, many times Van's call outs are not right. Put a rivet in, if it looks wrong measure or eyeball the tail (rivet gauges available from many suppliers) and try different lengths till it's right. You can also get gauges for the shop heads.

I've found that if the tails are too long they're easier to bend over. Too short and, well, you're shop head will be undersize.

All in all it sounds like your first hunch is probably correct...

Looks oriented correctly, on mine I put two pull rivets on the bottom, where you have your arrow and one in front of it.