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...

The aft elevator push rod is assembled in the empennage attach section of the plans, and as I was working on other push rod assemblies I also took care of this one at the same time. 3D printed drill guide being used to match drill holes through the push rod into the push rod ends After deburring and priming all push rod parts, I riveted the rod ends in place with MSP-42 rivets, attached bearings and adjusted them for the approximate length given in the plans. I then set the push rod aside for future installation into the tail cone. Push rod end riveted and bearing attached Everything looks good at both ends for installation in the tail cone Dates:                    December 13 2025, January 18 2026, February 19 2026

While working on the aileron push rod assemblies, I decided to also tackle the elevator push rods as a lot of the work involved in drilling the ends is identical across the different push rod assemblies. Once again, I made use of several different 3D printed drill guides to ensure that holes were accurately placed, but otherwise drilling these push rods and ends was straightforward. 3D printed drill guide for drilling the 1/16" safety wire hole in the forward elevator pushrod end  Forward elevator pushrod end drilled for rivets and safety wire Within the pushrod end, the safety wire hole runs just above the threaded portion Mid elevator pushrod ends are held in place by 8 rivets rather than the 6 used for other push rod assemblies I then started working on the Elevator Idler Arm assembly, first creating a spacer that sits between the left and right idler arms. Elevator idler arm spacer cut to size and initial hole drilled 1/4" in from one end. The remaining 2 holes are match ...

Prior to tail cone attachment I tackled a few miscellaneous tasks and decided to work on fabricating the push rods and torque tubes for aileron actuation.  I 3D printed several drill guides (thanks again to Allen Glen for his 3D model) for the different tube diameters and this made match drilling the rod ends extremely easy.  After cutting pushrod to length and deburring, drill guide fits snugly over rod end and lines up with the edge to correctly position the rivet holes Rivet holes drilled at both ends of torque tube to bellcrank pushrod Push rods and rod ends deburred and ready for priming Next, I cut the steel bellcrank to aileron pushrods to length using a hacksaw and also fabricated the aileron bellcrank spacers and torque tube collars. Slowly cutting through the steel tube to form two bellcrank to aileron pushrods Bellcrank to aileron push rods, aileron bellcrank spacers, aileron bellcrank bushings and torque tube collars all cut to exact lengths and deburred Using ano...