Time to start working on the horizontal stabilizer. Lots of work to do on the front and rear spars making sure they're riveted per plans. I messed up the countersink for one of the 4-5 rivets. Always check your tooling before drilling away. I ended up drilling out to a larger 5-5 flush rivet because I figured more strength probably won't hurt here.
Spars are complete, now time to prep the HS nose ribs and dimple the two skins. The DRDT-2 got the job done, but it required an extra set of hands to spread the skins apart to get some of the dimpling done. For the holes closest to the nose of the HS, I ended up using the pop rivet dimpling tool provided by Cleaveland.
The plans now tell you to make some stands that will hold the HS in place for follow-on assembly. I used 1/4" plywood and 2x4s for the bases. I cut the plywood with a jigsaw to get the initial shape and then made some final adjustments with the oscillating spindle sander to get the final form so there weren't any pressure points. Make sure you have plenty of space and think through the riveting on both sides of the HS. I have my EAA tables up against a wall in the garage, so I had to flip the HS around to get to the other side. It would have been easier to move the tables to the middle of the garage to have access to both sides.
HS complete. Total time was 34 hours. I don't know why I took off the vinyl, but man it looks good without it. Can't wait to see this shiny bird assembled down the road.
