Joshua's RV-9A Project

Finished the remaining rivets on the inboard skin ribs with Allison.

Stole Allison away from her work for a couple relatively short riveting sessions.  We set half of the skin-rib rivets on the left wing; with the swivel set on the rivet gun, she’s shooting like a pro.  Pulled the clecoes from the ribs, now ready to fill in the other half of the rivets, and the spar lines.  At least part of the rear spar should be squeezable.

After assembling the left tank to the spar, I prepped & primed the left wing skins and J-stiffeners.  The primer goes on nicely and dries quickly in the warmer temperatures and light wind, making the priming less of a chore…but standing in the sun next to the bare aluminum skins is like a solar cooker!

Once the primer had a chance to cure, I assembled the skins to the skeleton, again checking and re-checking the plumb bobs for twist.  The wing is pretty much dead on…less than 1/32″ difference from inboard to outboard end.  Clecoed every other hole…ready to rivet!

Finished attaching the right LE assembly to the spar by squeezing the top & bottom rivets in place.  Done.  Pulled out the left top wing skins and deburred, edge-finished, and dimpled them; ready for primer, but too windy to prime today.  Made it through spot-priming of half the rear spar dimple/countersinks before dinner.

Jacked up the right wing, measured and tweaked the fixture, then clecoed the leading edge assembly in place.  More measureing and checking, then riveted the rib-spar rivets, as on the left wing.  All came out fine, only had to drill two.  Allison did a great job driving the rivets on the two-man rib (third inboard).

Finished dimpling the wing skeletons, and enlarged the rear spar dimples with the deburring bit as described in the manual.  Checked the left wing in its fixture, re-stringing the line along the spar rivet row, and hanging the plumb lines at inboard & outboard ends.  Leveled, measured and adjusted until the twist was zero, then dropped the LE assembly on top and clecoed in place.

Riveted the assembly to the spar, and managed to use all solid rivets.  Going in, I was convinced that I would end up using blind rivets on many of the ribs (as many 7 builders do, with Vans’ approval), but the 9 wing design must allow more space, as I didn’t have any trouble.  I did need all three of my universal-head rivet sets (straight, offset, and double-offset) in various places, and the third rib from the inboard end is a two-person job due to the reach.  (Thanks to father-in-law Bob for help driving those rivets!)  None needed to be drilled out, and the rows of skin-to-spar rivets went quickly with the squeezer.  Left leading edge is installed!

Next will be the right LE to spar, then deburr/dimple/prime the wing skins.  Still need to get a flaring tool so I can flare the ends of the tank vent lines in order to seal up the tanks.

Finished the riveting of the leading edges; worked the right assembly in the cradle, then stood both L & R on end to reach in and drive the last 3 rivets at the nose of each rib.  Both came out nicely.

Primed the skin countersinks on the spar flanges, as well as dressed out & primed several bucking dings on the webs.  Started dimpling the wing skeletons…lots of holes!  Got a little more than halfway through.

About 3/5 of the way through riveting the leading edge assemblies.  Completed the bottoms of both left and right, and the top of the right excepting the forward-most three rivets on each rib.  Those are at an angle where the tabletop interferes with the rivet gun, so I’m going to finish both sides through that point; then either stand the assemblies on end to rivet those final three (the same way I did the fuel tanks), or tilt the cradle blocks so they’re accessible.

Also drilled out the tie-down ring holes in alignment with the tie-down bars bolted to the spar.  Test-fit the left LE to check fit again; no problems noted.

Clecoed the primed LE components together and test fit on the wing skeletons (again, to be sure they went back together correctly, remembering the trouble I had fitting the left LE the first time).  No problems with the fit, so they’re ready to be riveted.  Need to touch up some bucking dings on the spar before they can be riveted on for good.

Also riveted the LE light brackets together and fit the reflectors in place.  These won’t go into place until the LE assemblies are riveted onto the spar, to save them from vibration.  I’ll fit the lenses once the LE’s are riveted together, but probably off the spar for easier access.

Skeleton deburring complete, and nice weather outside, I prepped & primed the leading edge skins, ribs, splice strips, and landing light components.  Ready to rivet!