Final assembly and riveting of the fuse side skins began with backriveting the baggage floor angles and door shims to the mid fuse skins.
 |
| Backriveting the baggage floor angle to the right mid fuse skin |
 |
| Shop heads formed well, and this skin is ready to be clecoed to the understructure |
 |
Backriveting the baggage floor angle and shims to the left mid fuse skin. The aft most 7 holes do not get riveted at this time
|
I then started clecoing the four fuselage skins to the understructure, starting with the mid skins and then the forward skins, making sure that the skins butt up against eachother over the center section bulkheads.
I also put a bead of 3M Fire Barrier silicone sealant along the rivet line of the forward skins that attaches to the firewall as I had done for the bottom skin.
 |
| Bead of silicone sealant added prior to clecoing the skin to the firewall. After clecoing, the excess sealant was smoothed out with popsicle sticks to ensure that any gaps between the firewall flange and skin were completely sealed |
 |
| Left fuse skins clecoed in place, taking extra care to ensure the skins were aligned at the join |
 |
| Right fuse skins clecoed in place |
 |
| Ready to begin riveting the fuse skins to the understructure |
 |
| Skins clecoed to the firewall. I cleaned up any excess silicone sealant to avoid future interference when working on cowl attachment |
 |
| Skin pins used where the skins butt together to ensure they are aligned and rivets pass easily into the rivet holes |
It was then time to continue with skin riveting, working first on the double row of rivets on each side of the skin join. These were easily bucked using the 1" Boeing flush set and a 3/4" mushroom set.
 |
| Setting rivets next to the spar with the smaller 3/4" mushroom set |
 |
| Left side join riveting complete |
 |
| Shop heads came out well |
 |
| Similar result at the right side join... |
 |
| ...with shop heads all within spec |
Next I continued riveting aft on the F-1070 left and right skins. The hard rivets to set were the ones between the F-1015 and F-1016 outboard seat ribs due to very limited clearance to reach in and hold the bucking bar. I took my time though and eventually was able to set all the rivets the first time without any drill outs. I did, however skip the two rows of rivets right next to the center section bulkhead for later.
 |
| Tools required to set the rivets between the F-1015 and F-1016 outboard seat ribs, including multiple rivet sets (3/4" mushroom set and 3/4" and 1" Boeing flush sets, mirror to view shop heads under rib flanges and a kevlar sleeve to protect my arm while reaching in and out of the tight spaces |
 |
| Rivets next to the bottom skin were set using a 3/4" mushroom set |
 |
| Left skin rivets set. I left one rivet hole open that lies right next to where the rear spar attach bars exit the fuselage. I'll tackle that rivet later as it will probably require an offset rivet set. |
 |
| Rivets set (left side) between the outboard seat ribs. Space is tight, but all rivets can be set with some patience and care. Note the double row of rivets next to the center section bulkhead that will be done later |
 |
| More left side rivets set between the outboard seat ribs. I was happy to have set all the rivets correctly the first time |
 |
| Right side rivets also set without issue |
 |
| Right side rivets between the outboard seat ribs |
 |
| Yet more right side rivets between the outboard seat ribs |
 |
| Remaining rivets along the left side longeron and F-1015B seat rib intercostal were easily bucked with no issues. I just had to make sure to leave open specific holes along the longeron |
 |
| Same for the right side longeron and seat rib intercostal |
Next, I continued riveting aft as many left skin rivets as I could comfortably reach on my own. Suprisingly, I was able to reach all of them, other than those along the rolled edge, with little difficulty and zero drill outs, so I'll only be needing a little help to set the remaining rivets.
 |
| Aft left skin riveting getting close to completion |
 |
| I was able to set all rivets, including those along the rear seat ribs, with minimal effort by reaching over the cabin door opening |
 |
| I left a few rivet holes open close to the rear spar attach bars. As mentioned previously, I'll tackle those later with narrow and offset rivet sets |
Note also the marked hole in the photo above. This is a #30 hole in the skin, however, in the rear seat rib this was a #40 hole and I had dimpled it. I'm not sure yet how this hole will be used, but I assume it will be for a 1/8" rivet. If so, I will later flatten the inner dimple and final drill both holes to #30. I'm also not sure why there is a mismatch in the parts, but if you are (or will be) working on the rear seat ribs, per section 26 I would recommend not dimping that hole.
I then bucked all remaining rivets on the right side skin aft of the F-1005C bulkhead side channel. Similar to the left skin these were all reachable without too much difficulty.
 |
| Right aft side skin riveting continues aft |
 |
| Right forward fuselage longeron is riveted all the way aft |
 |
| Rivet lines look good with all rivets set well |
 |
| Rivets set between the right rear seat ribs |
 |
| Rivet shop heads look good along the right forward fuse longeron. The bulkhead that attaches the tailcone to the fuselage was clecoed in place before riveting to help with alignment |
 |
| Rivets set along the right mid fuse longeron |
 |
| Aft fuselage riveting complete |
Next I moved back to setting the remaining skin rivets along the aft center section bulkhead. I took care with these to ensure all were set correctly the first time (to avoid drillouts) and to make sure that the center section bulkhead was not damaged while riveting.
 |
| Using a 3/4" Boeing flush set to set rivets one row away from the center section bulkhead |
 |
| Using an offset 1" mushroom set to set the rivets closest to the center section bulkhead. A piece of foam padding was placed next to the bulkhead to avoid damaging it while bucking rivets |
 |
| Various drill bits (used to ream holes where needed to get rivets through), bucking bars and rivet sets used to set rivets close to the center section bulkhead |
 |
| Riveting complete on the left aft side skin |
 |
| Space was tight, but I was able to get good shop heads on all rivets |
 |
| I also set the remaining rivets closest to the rear spar attach bar using the same offset 1" mushroom set |
I then did the same on the right side fuse skin.
 |
| Rivets set next to the center section bulkhead |
 |
| Shop heads all within spec. There was one rivet where the bucking bar slipped off the edge of the shop head as I was completing riveting, however, only the edge of the shop head was deformed slightly so I decided to leave that rivet in place |
 |
| Rivets completed next to the rear spar attachment bars |
 |
| Shop heads all came out well |
I then drilled a couple of #30 holes from the skins into the center section bulkheads that were not present in the bulkheads/side panels. This is not explicitly called out in the plans at this point, but I looked ahead and these will have blind rivets set later so I decided to match drill them now.
 |
| #30 hole that existed only in the side skin, but not in the bulkhead |
 |
| Bulkhead hole after drilling, close to the AN3 rivet shop head but with enough distance to set a blind rivet later |
Having completed riveting of the mid fuse side skins (with the exception of the bottom row for which I will soon have help), I continued with riveting the mid cabin decks in place.
 |
| Left mid cabin deck clecoed to the fuselage |
 |
| I was able to set most of the cabin deck to bulkhead rivets using the pneumatic squeezer. Only the outboard most rivets had to be bucked as the squeezer wouldn't fit |
 |
| Left mid cabin deck riveted to footwell rib intercostal. |
 |
| Right mid cabin deck riveted to aft bulkhead and right footwell rib intercostal |
 |
| Right mid cabin deck riveted to forward bulkhead |
 |
| Left mid cabin deck riveted to forward bulkhead |
 |
| Shop heads all within spec on fwd left bulkhead,... |
 |
| aft left bulkhead... |
 |
| fwd right bulkhead... |
 |
| and aft right bulkhead |
Next I set all rivets along the top of each mid cabin deck.
 |
| Rivets at either end were bucked using an offset 1" mushroom set |
 |
| Setting the forward most rivet on the left mid cabin deck top |
 |
| Left mid cabin deck riveting completed |
 |
| Right mid cabin deck riveting completed |
 |
| With riveting of both mid cabin decks done, I will now need help to rivet the bottom most rivets on each side skin before I can continue riveting by myself |
Fuse Side Skins Time Taken: 25.1 hours
Dates: September 20 2025 - October 5 2025
Fuse Side Skins Total Time: 97.2 hours
RV-10 Build Total Time: 1183.7 hours
Priming Total Time: 142.6 hours (not included in build time totals)
