Tailcone Attachment 32-1 to 32-4-4
In preparation for tail cone attachment, I reorganized my garage workspace to allow for the extended length of the fuselage with tail cone, and retrieved the tail cone itself from storage.
This section began with deburring (all holes) and dimpling several holes in the F-1006B bulkhead as well as few in the F-1006A and F-1006C bulkheads and F-1029 Bellcrank Ribs. The F-1006B bulkhead still needs to be primed so that will be done prior to final assembly.
I then clecoed the F-1006B bulkhead to the aft fuselage, and put together a makeshift cart that would be able to hold the tailcone at roughly the height required to attach it to the aft fuselage. With my daughter's help, we lifted the tail cone on to the cart and I slowly wheeled it into position.
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| Tail cone on cart slowly inching towards the fuselage |
I was a little apprehensive at the start on how easily the fuselage and tail cone would slide together, but I really didn't have any issues getting the skins aligned. I think that leaving off the F-1006A and F-1006C bulkheads probably helped here as it gave the skins more flex to adjust to the fit.
In order to get the side skins aligned, I did have to lift the back of the tail cone significantly, but was able to do so in small steps using a height-adjustable saw horse which made this task easy.
As the skin holes aligned, I gradually added clecoes and inserted the remaining F-1006 bulkhead parts for rigidity.
Next I aligned the fuselage and tail cone longerons and C-clamped them together for match drilling.
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| Tail cone clecoed to fuselage with F-1006 bulkhead in place. The Rv-10 is now really taking shape! |
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| All skins aligned perfectly, and I was relieved that this was much easier than I had anticipated |
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| The RV-10 is now stretching across the garage, temporarily supported by the saw horse at the rear |
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| Another view of the fuselage with tail cone |
Next I aligned the fuselage and tail cone longerons and C-clamped them together for match drilling.
After first drilling and clecoing all the holes to #30, I upsized the aft most two holes on each side to #12 and temporarily bolted these before doing the same with the forward most two holes on each side. The reason for upsizing this way was that the F-1006 bulkhead needs to be unclecoed near the longerons so that it can be pushed out of the way while drilling. Having the aft most longeron holes bolted helps maintain alignment.
As mentioned, the longerons are only temporarily bolted together at this stage because they will need to be unbolted a few times prior to final assembly (including when attaching the cabin cover).
I then fabricated a couple of shims from 0.025" aluminum that are placed where the fuselage longerons extend beyond the side skins.
With the shims taped in place, I retrieved and clecoed the upper forward tail cone top skin in preparation for match drilling holes.
I also decided to temporarily cleco the baggage floors and baggage door angle in place to ensure proper aligned of all parts prior to drilling.
I then match drilled the side skin holes into the upper longerons and the 6 holes below the baggage door angle, making sure that the drill was perpendicular to the skin to ensure that any pre-existing shim and rib tab holes were captured without enlarging them.
Next I separated the tail cone from the fuselage and began deburring all drilled holes and dimpling where necessary. I only had to prime the bottom section of the F-1006 bulkhead, and I was then ready to start final assembly to permanently attach the tail cone to the fuselage.
After clecoing the fuselage and tail cone together, I once again temporarily bolted the fuselage and tail cone longerons together. Temporary nuts were used as the longerons will need to be unbolted again during canopy attachment.
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| Upsizing bolt holes in the left longerons |
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| Right longerons temporarily bolted |
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| Left longerons temporarily bolted |
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| Bolts were nicely aligned and centered down the longerons |
I then fabricated a couple of shims from 0.025" aluminum that are placed where the fuselage longerons extend beyond the side skins.
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| Right shim cut to size |
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| Left shim cut to size |
With the shims taped in place, I retrieved and clecoed the upper forward tail cone top skin in preparation for match drilling holes.
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| Tail cone top skin clecoed to fuselage |
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| Tail cone attachment holes ready for match drilling |
I also decided to temporarily cleco the baggage floors and baggage door angle in place to ensure proper aligned of all parts prior to drilling.
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| Baggage floors clecoed to the baggage area ribs. These pull the sides of the fuselage into alignment |
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| Baggage door angle clecoed to side skin and floor to add rigidity and ensure alignment of baggage door shims that require match drilling |
I then match drilled the side skin holes into the upper longerons and the 6 holes below the baggage door angle, making sure that the drill was perpendicular to the skin to ensure that any pre-existing shim and rib tab holes were captured without enlarging them.
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| Right longeron holes match drilled |
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| Left longeron holes match drilled |
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| Six holes below baggage door angle match drilled. Care was taken to not enlarge the pre-existing holes in the underlying shims while drilling |
The final steps before permanent attachment of the tail cone involved countersinking the lower baggage angle skin holes on the left side, and the upper longeron skin holes on both sides for flush rivets, as well as match drilling the aft row of holes along the mid bottom skin into the tail cone bottom skin.
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| Lower baggage angle skin holes countersunk |
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| Right side bottom aft row of holes match drilled into the tail cone (just behind the bulkhead) |
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| Left side bottom aft row of holes match drilled into the tail cone |
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| Each bottom skin hole was clecoed as it was drilled to maintain alignment |
Next I separated the tail cone from the fuselage and began deburring all drilled holes and dimpling where necessary. I only had to prime the bottom section of the F-1006 bulkhead, and I was then ready to start final assembly to permanently attach the tail cone to the fuselage.
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| Tail cone separated from fuselage. The aft row of bottom skin holes were some of many that had to be deburred |
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| F-1006 bulkhead was primed and nutplates were riveted to flange |
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| F-1006 bottom bulkhead riveted to side bulkhead sections |
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| F-1006 bulkhead was then riveted to bellcrank ribs in the tail cone |
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| Tail cone once again slowly being moved into position behind the fuselage |
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| Tail cone and fuselage went together relatively easily. Here I was making small angle adjustments to line up the side skins |
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| Fuselage and tail cone mated and ready for riveting |
After clecoing the fuselage and tail cone together, I once again temporarily bolted the fuselage and tail cone longerons together. Temporary nuts were used as the longerons will need to be unbolted again during canopy attachment.
I then started riveting the tail cone to the fuselage by first tackling the side skins (which I could rivet myself), and then getting my daughter to help me rivet along the bottom skins, before finishing off the remaining longeron and baggage door area riveting myself.
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| Right fuselage and tail cone side skins riveted together |
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| Left fuselage and tail cone side skins riveted together |
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| Side skin shop heads came out well |
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| Left side skin shop heads |
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| Tail cone joined to fuselage along the double row of bottom skin rivets |
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| Baggage door area rivets set well in the countersunk skin holes |
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| Remaining longeron rivets were easy to squeeze |
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| Riveted skins look perfectly flat with no oil canning |
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| Tail cone fully attached after setting the remaining rib to baggage bulkhead rivets! |
One minor issue I had while bucking rivets from the baggage area ribs into the F-1006 bulkhead was that on a couple of those rivets, I noticed that the aluminum was getting pushed up against one side of the shop head as the head finished forming.
The baggage area rib flange and bulkhead web are very thin (0.025") aluminum, and I believe this was caused by having the rivet gun pressure set slightly too high, along with a slight offset of the rivet set against the factory head due to the limited space next to the baggage area rib.
Reaching out to Van's builder support, they suggested adding a rivet on either side of the affected rivets to maintain structural strength.
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| Note the two rivets on the left where is some slight bulging of the aluminum to the left of the rivet. The shop head formed to the correct size, but adding additional rivets on each side of these two will maintain structural integrity of this section. |
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| These are the factory heads of the affected rivets shown in the previous photo. There was no issue with how these came out |
Time Taken: 19.4 hours
Dates: November 30 2025, January 4 - January 24 2026
Tailcone Attachment Total Time: 19.4 hours
RV-10 Build Total Time: 1275.0 hours
Priming Total Time: 143.6 hours (not included in build time totals)