SECTION 32: TAILCONE ATTACHMENT

Builder Videos

• Jason Ellis
  • Episode 35
  • Episode 36
  • Episode 37
• Rodrigo Damazio Bovendorp
  • RV10: Tailcone attachment 1
  • RV10: Tailcone attachment 2
  • RV10: Tailcone attachment 3

Page 32-3

• Stack at the corners from inside to outside
  • tailcone bottom skin
  • tailcone side skin
  • fuselage bottom skin
  • fuselage side skin
• Stack at floor joint from bottom to top:
  • fuse skin (F-1077)
  • tailcone skin (F-1078)
  • bulkhead (F-1006B)
  • rib tabs (e.g. F-1019-R)
• Consider using plastic wedges to guide the tailcone bottom skin to go above (inside) the fuselage bottom skin, e.g. at Amazon
• Consider using two thin strips of aluminum (3/4 inch wide) in the bottom corner sections to guide the tabs of the tailcone to go inside the fuselage skin.
• Consider using an inflated 20 inch truck inner tube underneath the fuselage center to lift the fuselage slightly, allowing a swivel motion within the fuselage cradle constraints e.g. at Amazon
• This is going to be the first section where you will be happy to have a creeper to get underneath the fuselage, e.g. this one at HF.
• Throughout the build, a "pallet stacker" / manual forklift comes in handy. Shown here to raise the tailcone to be level with the fuselage. They ran around $1,000 new on ebay in 2020 but keep their value and allow you to unload the kits from the truck which makes the delivery non-residential thus saving money each time. They can also act as an engine hoist as you can lift the fork 6 feet and hang the engine from a fork. When not in use, they make an adjustable work bench. Might also come in handy when fitting the fiberglass cabin top.

Page 32-4

• When to dimple the holes marked in red? Answer: Page 32-5, step 3: Dimple all skins common to the F-1006 A, B & D bulkheads. In this case, it is the F-1006A bulkhead. When it comes to the holes underneath that red region (tailcone side skin), there is one exception to dimpling all holes that belong to the bulkhead: the top hole doesn't get dimpled (the one that has the non countersunk longeron hole underneath). The fuselage side skin goes on top and that particular hole is countersunk on that fuselage skin.
• Countersinking the side skins: The three holes on the left side skin located rear of the baggage door top (and same three on the right side) need to be flush plus 7 clicks to accommodate a dimpled skin on top of them (you just removed the top skin F-1074 which covered them), however the horizontal line of holes above the baggage door and the corresponding ones on the right side, also the six holes on the bottom right of the baggage door, need to be countersunk just flush since nothing goes on top of them.