Alex's Vans RV-10 Build Log

I had done some work on the upper forward fuselage a little while back to get it fabricated and fitted, and after priming these parts, I started riveting some of them together.  I will postpone final riveting of the ribs to the top skin in this section until I have my panel sorted out, as I am not sure yet if I will need to make any modifications to the subpanel to accommodate avionics. It will be much easier to make any modifications on individual pieces rather than the entire assembly. Nutplates riveted to instrument panel attach flanges Nutplates attached to the ends of the forward fuselage ribs Nutplates riveted to fabricated instrument panel attach flanges Center forward fuselage rib subassembly riveted together All riveted were set with the pneumatic squeezer, reaching through lightning holes where needed Dates:      June 5 2026

After running all the conduit and cables under the baggage area and rear seats, it was time to complete riveting of the rear seat floors. Riveting these was easy enough as they use mostly pull rivets, but even the rivets along the ribs and bulkheads were straightforward to set with the pneumatic squeezer. Left rear seat floor riveted in Right rear seat floor complete Nutplates were riveted in along the bulkheads and ribs where required I temporarily removed the bushings through which the rudder cables will run as I will need to flex the bushings over the rudder cables before inserting them through the bulkhead holes Center channel nutplates will be used to attached covers once control rods are in place I then worked on the rear seat side panels. After temporarily screwing them in place, I match drilled #19 holes from each side panel into the longerons. I then removed the side panels and used a #8 nutplate jig to drill nutplate attach holes around each longeron screw hole. Side panel te...

Continuing on with riveting the baggage area together, I first riveted nutplates onto the Upper Baggage Door Seal Channel. I used blind rivets for one of the attach holes on each nutplate due to those being impossible to reach with a bucking bar. I was able to use the pneumatic squeezer on the other attach holes. Nutplates riveted to the door seal channel Blind rivets used where it is impossible to reach with a standard bucking bar Next it was time to rivet both baggage floors in place. Feeling confident that the conduit runs and under floor electrical runs were adequate for my needs, I clecoed both the baggage floors and rear seat floors into place, along with the bottom rear seat back hinge, and then began pulling CS4-4 rivets Ready to final rivet the baggage floors into place Pulling blind rivets was easy (left baggage floor). I just had to make sure that the rivet puller was tight against and inline with the head of the rivet prior to starting the pull  After completing the bli...