I finished back riveting the stiffeners to the left skin, then moved on to riveting the bottom rib to the right skin. With that done, I pop riveted the shear clips onto the left skin stiffeners.
Everything went well, except for a pop rivet where the shank broke off in the wrong place. I will need to pick up some side cutters and cut it off. Not sure why it broke there, perhaps I twisted or flexed the hand tool as I was giving it the final squeeze.
My countersink for the trailing edge wedge won’t arrive until Monday, so I’m blocked on the rudder now until that arrives and I can get that done. I started reading ahead on the Horizontal Stabilizer to see what I can get done over the weekend. Looks like plenty of deburring to keep me busy for a while.
I also looked at the timing for Vans to ship the next few kits. I need to make a decision in the next couple of weeks as to whether I want to go the quick-build route, or slow build. The slow-build kits have a 10 week lead time, and the quick build kits are 5-6 months. If going the quick build route, Vans recommend ordering the fuselage and wings together, or risk a longer delay. While I’m not in a hurry to finish, the idea of saving a year or more of work is certainly appealing. On the other hand, the idea of knowing every piece of the airplane, every rivet, bolt, nut, fitting, wiring run etc, is appealing.