Ivan's RV-7

Fuselage almost rivetedTimer icon8h

June 18, 2023

Okay, so the saga continues!

Not much to show other than the riveted fuselage. It took me about, I don't know, 8 hours total, over a month? Scheduling help turned out to be a bit of a challenge.

There are a few rivets that look quite terrible honestly, but Vans' support said that it is better to keep them. I seem to be having consistent issues with -4 rivets that go only through two layers and require an offset set (the ones that connect baggage ribs to the F-706 bulkhead, for example). They tend to smear to one side. I got most of them fine, but two or three rivets gave me a hard time. I had do put an oversized CherryMax rivet in two places because I just couldn't get it right.

The fuselage is riveted together!

Before I flip the "canoe", however, I need to install a few more ribs and the armrests. I haven't primed them yet, though, so that's the next item on the list.