Tail Cone 10-23-1 to 10-23-2, 10-24-3
Back at the end of June 2023, I was finally getting close to the end of the tail cone assembly, just having to rivet the aft top skin in place. I began this by clecoing the skin to the stiffeners, leaving the sides unclecoed.
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| Aft top skin clecoed to stiffeners and bulkheads |
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| Aft top skin after riveting to stiffeners and top of bulkheads |
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| I was able to push the static lines slightly to the side to get the bucking bar against the rivets on the top left stiffener, being careful not to damage the static lines or attachment brackets |
Next, I clecoed one side of the top skin all the way down to the longerons, and bucked the remaining rivets along that side of the F-1009 bulkhead by reaching through the opening with the bucking bar.
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| Skin riveted to right side of F-1009 bulkhead |
The remaining rivets in the top skin required a helper, so I temporarily (for almost a yeat!!!) put the tail cone to the side and began work on the wings. Fast forward to May 2024, and now that my daughter is quite proficient with the rivet gun, I decided to finally finish working on section 10 and complete the top skin riveting with her help.
I was able to lean in from the open left side of the tail cone to hold the bucking bar against the rivets while my daughter worked the rivet gun along the bulkhead from the outside. Static lines were temporarily disconnected and moved out of the way while setting rivets in those areas. We then tackled the rivets along the right longeron without issue.
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| Rivets completed on the right side of the tail cone |
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| Right side longeron and bulkheads fully riveted to the top skin |
While the left side of the tail cone top skin was still open, I decided to loosely attach the right shoulder harness anchor. The is limited space here, but I was able to get a wrench and a spanner to tighten each bolt to within a couple of threads. I will torque them down later as I think it will be easier to do while laying in the tail cone with a direct view of the torque dial.
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| Right shoulder harness anchor loosely attached |
Next I clecoed down the left side of the tail cone top skin and set the few rivets I could easily reach myself into the F-1008 and F-1009 bulkhead.
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| F-1009 bulkhead fully riveted in. Setting the rest of the F-1008 bulkhead and several longeron rivets is a two-person job |
I then (with help) carefully placed the tail cone on some thick cardboard laid down on the floor, and after removing the F-1006B fwd bottom bulkhead section and F-1028 baggage bulkhead channel for easier access, I placed some sections of high density foam upholstery padding along the bottom skin.
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| Tail cone on the floor with padding over the bottom skin. 6" thick high density upholstery foam supported me well, especially over the bottom bulkhead sections and autopilot yaw servo bracket that sticks up in the middle of the tail cone |
With padding in place, and tools within easy reach, I lay down in the tail cone and finished torquing the right shoulder harness anchor.
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| Right shoulder harness anchor torqued down and marked with torque seal |
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| Bolts are close to the skin, but I was able to use a 3/8" box wrench to hold the bolt while torquing the nut from below. I had to reverse this, and torque the aft most bolt from above because of interference from the static port, but I was able to get all bolts torqued within spec of 20-25 in-lbs |
Then, with my daughter's help with the rivet gun on the outside, and myself on the inside, we finished riveting the F-1008 bulkhead on the top left side as well as a portion of the longeron rivets that I cannot easily reach by myself from the both sides. Other than being a little uncomfortable laying in the somewhat cramped tail cone (mostly due to bulkheads and brackets sticking out), there was no issue riveting these with help.
I then completed installment and torquing of the left shoulder harness anchor bolts.
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| Left side F-1008 bulkhead riveted down along with a few longeron rivets, and left shoulder harness anchor installed and torqued to spec |
Next we lifted the tail cone back onto the saw horses so that I could finish riveting the top skin to the left longeron. These rivets were relatively easy to set by myself reaching through the openings, just having to make sure I had both rivet gun and bar lined up on the same rivet, and using a mirror and rivet gauge to check the shop heads.
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| Left side tail cone rivets are all done |
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| Shop heads along the longeron look good |
With that, section 10 is now COMPLETE (finally!), and the tail cone will be put aside to finish up the wings.
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| Tail cone right side (after all blue vinyl removed and wiped clean of fingerprints/residue with acetone) |
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| Tail cone from the top |
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| Tail cone left side |
Build Hints
- The majority of the tail cone top skin can be riveted single-handedly by first completing riveting on one side while the other remains unclecoed. The only part where help is really needed is along the F-1008 bulkhead curve, and a few longeron rivets when the top skin is fully clecoed. Having a helper to set other rivets does make the process much easier though!
- High-density upholstery foam padding works well to fully support a person laying down in the tailcone especially around bulkheads and brackets that stick out.
- Standard ratchet handles may be too big to fit a socket over the shoulder harness anchor bolts due to limited space. Box wrenches worked well to tighten the bolts most of the way so that there is not much left to finish the job with a torque wrench.
Time Taken: 9.6 hours
Dates: June 28 - July 2 2023, May 23 - June 3 2024
Tail Cone Total Time: 164.8 hours
RV-10 Build Total Time: 697.8 hours
Priming Total Time: 81.9 hours (not included in build time totals)