Horizontal Stabilizer
November 6, 2005 - December 3, 2005
10/14/05 Ordered Preview Plans / Received confirmation number W05-10141468
10/19/05 Ordered Empennage tool kit from Cleveland Aircraft Supply
10/20/05 Received Plans YEA!!! / Ordered Empennage Kit / Tool kit shipped from Cleveland Aircraft Supply
10/25/05 Tool Kit arrived / Inventoried and set aside
10/27/05 Empennage Kit arrived today! Unfortunately (fortunately actually) very busy day at work. Couldn't open
yet. My garage is not ready yet anyway.
10/29-30 Worked on garage set up / installed air compressor and filter lines, all shop lights installed / Center work
bench set up
11/2/05 Opened kit and inventoried all parts / nothing missing / Emptied all bags and stored contents in storage
bins/organizer.
11/5/05 Garage finally ready / rest of tools arrived yesterday / going to ask some local builders if they would mind
showing me a few tips on using the tools correctly.
11/6/05 Met with Dwight Frye and helped him remove his wing (RV7) He showed me the basics about riveting and
deburring / FINALLY started on the rear spar assembly tonight. Needed to file a LOT off the corner of
the spar braces to get them to lay flat inside the main spar / note: there are not NEARLY enough clekos in
the starter tool kit... Really need to TRIPLE the amount to be sufficient.
11/7/05 Completed match drilling and deburring the rear HS spar. All parts ready for priming / Elevator horn bearing
assembled and riveted together (Total time for rear HS spar: 5 hrs) Jack Simmons is going to bring a case
of metal etching primer over tomorrow and I will be able to start priming the individual HS spar pieces
11/8/05 Started on the Front HS Spar tonight / Ran into difficulty trimming the HS710 and HS714 AL Angle braces
with a file. Need to go buy some shop tools... Bench grinder, belt/disc sander etc. Pretty much wasted 2
hours trying to trim braces with die grinder. Also ordered a complete set of over 200 clekos.
11/11-13 Bought Bench grinder, Belt/Disc sander, Band Saw, Drill Press / Spent weekend setting up shop / more
electrical outlets etc.
11/14/05 What a difference having the right tools makes! The belt/disc sander made "short work" out of forming the
HS710 and HS714 braces. Both done in less than 2 hrs! (Remember I wasted 2 hrs without the sander and
didn't even make a dent in the braces) Made the 6* bends and pretty much completed the front HS Spar
(Front Spar time approx 4 hrs) / Clekos and 2nd set of cleko pliers came today. Now I will be able to cleko
the skin to the HS frame when ready to...
11/15/05 Assembled the HS ribs and cleko'd the skin on for the 1st time. REALLY starting to look like and airplane
wing now! (Had a little help from my son Brandon tonight) It was a big help having someone to help me line
up the punched holes in the skin with the ribs and get the first few of them cleko'd together. (3 hrs tonight)
11/16/05 Built the C-Frame Bench tonight. Finished final drilling the HS. Ready to begin to take everything apart,
start deburring and dimpling all the parts before priming them.
11/17-18 Took a few days off to spend with my wife and daughter / Took some misc. photos of HS before I
disassemble it to start deburring, dimpling and priming. Relaxed in front of a nice, hot, crackling fire. :-)
11/19-20 Worked on the shop this weekend. Insulated the roof so I wouldn't need to crank up the heat all night long.
Sunday night, insulation installed, I decided to put in a few hours on the HS. Disassembled the HS and
began deburring all of the holes and edges in the HS skeleton. Time consuming and tedious, but extremely
important that it be done right. Don't want any cracks showing up in a few years because it would have
been easy to just go through the motions without checking each and every hole / edge. Well, nearly 3 hours
into the process, I have everything on the skeleton deburred except for the front HS Spar. It's 11 pm and I
have plenty of work to do early tomorrow morning. Going to call it a night. Tomorrow I should have the
HS skeleton and both skins deburred and begin dimpling.
11/21/05 Dwight came over and helped me dimple the difficult areas of the HS skins / Learned enough to be able to
finish the rest of the skins and skeleton on my own. It's really nice to have someone like Dwight who has
already done what you are doing, to help a beginner like me learn the tricks of building an airplane. He sure
makes it look easy... Actually it IS easy, once you know what you are doing!
11/22/05 Completed deburring HS skeleton and skins / Dimpled all the ribs, spars and outer most holes in both skins.
Dimpling the inner most holes in the skins is DEFINITELY a 2 person job... at least if you don't want to waste
a lot of time and money replacing skins that you nearly destroy by trying to fold back the upper section of
the skin away from the C-Frame dimpler, while simultaneously centering the die in the hole, while keeping
the bottom portion of the skin flat on the table AND striking the C-Frame with the dead-blow hammer,
WITHOUT hitting the upper skin, BEFORE you hit the C-Frame! Sound complicated? It is! ... At least for 1
person. Two people make the job extremely easy. Tomorrow is the day before Thanksgiving and Brandon
will be coming over to help finish dimpling the skins with me. Almost ready to PRIME!!! Really looking
forward to begin riveting in a couple of days.
11/24/05 Thanksgiving Day / Ate WAY too much! (as usual on T-Day) My sons Brian (right) and Brandon (left)
helped me finish dimpling the skins. Everything is now ready to be primed then reassembled...
PERMANENTLY this time!
11/27/05 Finished priming all the ribs and spars. Nothing exciting today.
11/28/05 Well... The big day has arrived! Time to start riveting! Completed the HS Front and Rear spars and began
riveting the skins to the ribs and front spar. DEFINITELY a 2 person job! All in all, the first rivets look
pretty good. Beginning to get the hang of it now. Rivets are turning out nicely. (2nd photo is my son
Brandon, helping me rivet the skin to the front spar)
11/29/05 Trying to finish up the HS and started bucking rivets by myself tonight. Not really TOO difficult, but an extra
set of hands would have come in handy. Got a lot done considering I was by myself tonight. Both sides of
the HS are skinned and nearly complete. Another couple of hours and I should have the HS completed.
12/3/05 Took a few days off to get some office work done as well as taking a night to celebrate my oldest son
Brian's 20th birthday. Jeez, I'm getting old! COMPLETED THE HS TONIGHT!!!!!! YEAAAAA!!!! My first
major milestone!
10/19/05 Ordered Empennage tool kit from Cleveland Aircraft Supply
10/20/05 Received Plans YEA!!! / Ordered Empennage Kit / Tool kit shipped from Cleveland Aircraft Supply
10/25/05 Tool Kit arrived / Inventoried and set aside
10/27/05 Empennage Kit arrived today! Unfortunately (fortunately actually) very busy day at work. Couldn't open
yet. My garage is not ready yet anyway.
10/29-30 Worked on garage set up / installed air compressor and filter lines, all shop lights installed / Center work
bench set up
11/2/05 Opened kit and inventoried all parts / nothing missing / Emptied all bags and stored contents in storage
bins/organizer.
11/5/05 Garage finally ready / rest of tools arrived yesterday / going to ask some local builders if they would mind
showing me a few tips on using the tools correctly.
11/6/05 Met with Dwight Frye and helped him remove his wing (RV7) He showed me the basics about riveting and
deburring / FINALLY started on the rear spar assembly tonight. Needed to file a LOT off the corner of
the spar braces to get them to lay flat inside the main spar / note: there are not NEARLY enough clekos in
the starter tool kit... Really need to TRIPLE the amount to be sufficient.
11/7/05 Completed match drilling and deburring the rear HS spar. All parts ready for priming / Elevator horn bearing
assembled and riveted together (Total time for rear HS spar: 5 hrs) Jack Simmons is going to bring a case
of metal etching primer over tomorrow and I will be able to start priming the individual HS spar pieces
11/8/05 Started on the Front HS Spar tonight / Ran into difficulty trimming the HS710 and HS714 AL Angle braces
with a file. Need to go buy some shop tools... Bench grinder, belt/disc sander etc. Pretty much wasted 2
hours trying to trim braces with die grinder. Also ordered a complete set of over 200 clekos.
11/11-13 Bought Bench grinder, Belt/Disc sander, Band Saw, Drill Press / Spent weekend setting up shop / more
electrical outlets etc.
11/14/05 What a difference having the right tools makes! The belt/disc sander made "short work" out of forming the
HS710 and HS714 braces. Both done in less than 2 hrs! (Remember I wasted 2 hrs without the sander and
didn't even make a dent in the braces) Made the 6* bends and pretty much completed the front HS Spar
(Front Spar time approx 4 hrs) / Clekos and 2nd set of cleko pliers came today. Now I will be able to cleko
the skin to the HS frame when ready to...
11/15/05 Assembled the HS ribs and cleko'd the skin on for the 1st time. REALLY starting to look like and airplane
wing now! (Had a little help from my son Brandon tonight) It was a big help having someone to help me line
up the punched holes in the skin with the ribs and get the first few of them cleko'd together. (3 hrs tonight)
11/16/05 Built the C-Frame Bench tonight. Finished final drilling the HS. Ready to begin to take everything apart,
start deburring and dimpling all the parts before priming them.
11/17-18 Took a few days off to spend with my wife and daughter / Took some misc. photos of HS before I
disassemble it to start deburring, dimpling and priming. Relaxed in front of a nice, hot, crackling fire. :-)
11/19-20 Worked on the shop this weekend. Insulated the roof so I wouldn't need to crank up the heat all night long.
Sunday night, insulation installed, I decided to put in a few hours on the HS. Disassembled the HS and
began deburring all of the holes and edges in the HS skeleton. Time consuming and tedious, but extremely
important that it be done right. Don't want any cracks showing up in a few years because it would have
been easy to just go through the motions without checking each and every hole / edge. Well, nearly 3 hours
into the process, I have everything on the skeleton deburred except for the front HS Spar. It's 11 pm and I
have plenty of work to do early tomorrow morning. Going to call it a night. Tomorrow I should have the
HS skeleton and both skins deburred and begin dimpling.
11/21/05 Dwight came over and helped me dimple the difficult areas of the HS skins / Learned enough to be able to
finish the rest of the skins and skeleton on my own. It's really nice to have someone like Dwight who has
already done what you are doing, to help a beginner like me learn the tricks of building an airplane. He sure
makes it look easy... Actually it IS easy, once you know what you are doing!
11/22/05 Completed deburring HS skeleton and skins / Dimpled all the ribs, spars and outer most holes in both skins.
Dimpling the inner most holes in the skins is DEFINITELY a 2 person job... at least if you don't want to waste
a lot of time and money replacing skins that you nearly destroy by trying to fold back the upper section of
the skin away from the C-Frame dimpler, while simultaneously centering the die in the hole, while keeping
the bottom portion of the skin flat on the table AND striking the C-Frame with the dead-blow hammer,
WITHOUT hitting the upper skin, BEFORE you hit the C-Frame! Sound complicated? It is! ... At least for 1
person. Two people make the job extremely easy. Tomorrow is the day before Thanksgiving and Brandon
will be coming over to help finish dimpling the skins with me. Almost ready to PRIME!!! Really looking
forward to begin riveting in a couple of days.
11/24/05 Thanksgiving Day / Ate WAY too much! (as usual on T-Day) My sons Brian (right) and Brandon (left)
helped me finish dimpling the skins. Everything is now ready to be primed then reassembled...
PERMANENTLY this time!
11/27/05 Finished priming all the ribs and spars. Nothing exciting today.
11/28/05 Well... The big day has arrived! Time to start riveting! Completed the HS Front and Rear spars and began
riveting the skins to the ribs and front spar. DEFINITELY a 2 person job! All in all, the first rivets look
pretty good. Beginning to get the hang of it now. Rivets are turning out nicely. (2nd photo is my son
Brandon, helping me rivet the skin to the front spar)
11/29/05 Trying to finish up the HS and started bucking rivets by myself tonight. Not really TOO difficult, but an extra
set of hands would have come in handy. Got a lot done considering I was by myself tonight. Both sides of
the HS are skinned and nearly complete. Another couple of hours and I should have the HS completed.
12/3/05 Took a few days off to get some office work done as well as taking a night to celebrate my oldest son
Brian's 20th birthday. Jeez, I'm getting old! COMPLETED THE HS TONIGHT!!!!!! YEAAAAA!!!! My first
major milestone!
