I'm done riveting...the first wing :) The lower (forward) half was significantly easier and could be mostly done solo and in some cases even using the squeezer, but it's still significantly slower than "regular" riveting where you can see the shop head without taking pictures or using a mirror. I also saw no reason why the two outboard bays are riveted differently, so on the other wing I may just do it all the same way:
Left wing bottom skin fully riveted
Rivets inside the left wing
I also attached the backing plate for the Gretz Pitot mount to the skin, spar and rib:
Gretz pitot mount base plate riveted to the skin and rib through an angle
Lots of blind riveting! And by blind I'm not referring to pop rivets, unfortunately, but riveting without seeing your bucking bar. Phone cameras were infinitely helpful to see what the heck we had done:
Rivets inside the wing
Most of them were ok, but there were more than a few that had to be replaced, too:
Bad rivets that needed replacing
Some also required a bit of contortionism to buck:
Wife performing contortionism to bucket a rivet behind and above her without seeing it
After a LOT of sanding and filling, I got OK results (i.e. good enough that the paint shop can fix the rest :) ) on the horizontal stabilizer and elevator fairings, and primed them:
Sanding the elevator fairing gap
Horizontal stabilizer and elevator fairings with primer applied
Horizontal stabilizer and elevator fairings with primer applied
I also riveted the bottom rudder fairing on, and now the sanding and filling for the rudder fairings will start.
I didn't quite like the metal cover that most people use for the rudder cables - mainly, because they're too small and tight around the cable sleeve, and they're too short to stop water from getting inside the tailcone, so we used those as a rough model to make our own from fiberglass:
Molds for layup, made from the smaller metal cable covers
Molds, fiberglass and peel ply ready for layup
Laying fiber for the cable covers
Applying peel ply while keeping the layup shape
After cutting, the general shape was good, but the cable was still a bit too close to the aft portion in its extreme position:
Cable covers after initial layup and cutting
Cable coming out of the cable cover
Cable sitting pretty close to the cover in its extreme position
so in order to be able to sand the inside of that aft portion, we added another couple layers of fiber to the outside:
Laying up additional fiber layers on the outside of the cable covers
Added few holes, countersunk them, adjusted the angle so the cable goes right down its center, and it sits perfectly:
Cable covers with countersunk holes for attachment
Left cable cover clecoed to the tailcone, with cable running down its center
Right cable cover clecoed to the tailcone, with cable running down its center
After that was the usual finishing work - fill, sand, fill, sand:
Cable covers with a resin layer for filling holes
Cable covers after fine sanding
Once it was smooth enough, I finally primed it (and the portion of the tailcone where it sits) and riveted it in place:
