I was getting ready to rivet the aileron spar reinforcement plates to the spar and realized that I wasn't quit done prepping the plates.  I forgot to countersink 4 holes on the plate for some flush rivets that will sit behind the aileron brackets.  There are 4 holes on the inboard plate and 2 on the outboard plate.  Standard countersink operation here.  Countersunk until a rivet sat flush in the hole.  No problem... I am glad, however, I figured this out before I starting riveting the sucker in.

WHAT IS WRONG WITH THIS PICTURE???  I was getting everything ready for priming the remaining left  aileron parts when I went looking for my Alumiprep bottle, there wasn't any that were "clear".  Sure as crap, when I got done with my last priming session, I had poured my Alodine back into the Alumiprep bottle.  Between the Alumiprep and the Alodine, it looks like the better part of a gallon...  Dang>>>  That is about a $40 dollar mistake.  It isn't the cost of the Alumiprep or Alodine; it is the shipping charges I get socked with since they are hazardous chemicals.

I was trying to figure out how I was going to apply primer to the inside of the counterbalance weight (water pipe).  And, then it hit me...  Cut off the little finger of a latex glove and roll it over the end (kind of like the military rolling condoms over the end of their rifle barrels, only this wasn't a rifle and I didn't use a condom.  Anyway, you get the idea here).  I was so smittin' with my ingenuity of the latex glove, I poured a couple of ounce of epoxy primer down the other end of the pipe and sloshed it around.  I was quickly put back in my place when the primer came out of the other 15 holes in the pipe at a very fast pace.  I had primer all over me, the floor, my tools, etc.

On the right aileron, I used some masking tape down the row of holes, put the latex finger on the end of the pipe and then put one wrap of tape around the glove to better seal the end.  That worked ALOT better.

For final assembly, the first thing I did (I believe this is what Van's calls out also) was to rivet the nose ribs to the counterbalance weight.  You have to bend the flange slightly of the nose rib (I just bent the tab being riveted slightly) in order to get your rivet squeezer in there to pull the LP4-3 rivet.  Pull the rivet, carefully bend the tab back into place.

Then do the other side the same way.  Just make sure that in both cases you have the nose rib pointing the right direction.

See the problem with the picture below (I know its blurry).  This is an LP4-3 rivet that accidentally got mixed up with my CS4-4 rivets which got installed on the leading edge to counterweight.  It is the wrong length rivet AND it is not a flush blind rivet.  CS4-4 rivets are supposed to installed here.  I caught that I had the wrong rivet installed after I pulled the rivet puller once.  By then, I couldn't remove the rivet by hand so, I had to continue to pull it and then drill it out.

Another blurry picture, but this is the type of river that was supposed to be installed there.  It sits a little more flush than the LP4-3 rivet.  None of the rivets sat as nicely as I like, but this row of rivets is right on the leading edge radius.

Once the counterbalance weight assembly is pop-riveted to the skin, it was time to cleco everything back together.  Just cleco the top side together.  Do not cleco the bottom (you will need that to gain access to buck the rivets on the top of the aileron).

This is just me dorking around with the camera.

Okay, the moment of truth.  It is time to rivet this sucker together for good.  I wasn't quit sure how to tackle this so I checked a couple of other web sites for ideas.  As usual, Dan Checkoways site had a method that I ended up using.  The best thing I could come up with is to use this table to hold the aileron.  You have to be careful here in that the aileron is awkward to handle with the heavy counterweight in it and with not having the bottom clecoed together, it is still pretty flimsy.  Here is how we tackled this riveting job:

• I ran the rivet gun and laid on the floor perpendicular to the table (laying under it).  This allowed me to reach the aileron with the rivet gun and I was able to stay out of Tami's way so she could work the bucking bar from above.
• Tami bucked rivets from the top and had to bend / open the bottom of the aileron skin to gain access to the rivet tails on the top.  You kind of have to do this by feel.
• I inserted the rivet, held it in the aileron with the rivet gun and positioned the aileron on the table so the rivet gun was up against the side of the table (to help hold it over the rivet).  The reason for this is you only have two hands and I was using one to run the rivet gun and the other to help hold the aileron steady during the riveting process.  The aileron wanted to slide and jump around when I started hitting it with a rivet gun.  By positioning the rivet gun and aileron so that the rivet gun is against the side of the table, it help keep the rivet gun over the rivet when I hit the trigger.

Even with our best efforts, we probably drilled out 5-6 rivets.  Most of the problems came when trying to get the bucking bar over the rivets that were near a stiffener.  I really should have had a small(er) bucking bar that could be positioned over / around the aileron spar.  Those rivets near the stiffeners are a REAL PAIN.

After I got all the top skin to spar rivets bucket, I got ready to pull the blind rivets on the bottom side.  Before clecoing the bottom together, I put in a blob of RTV at the trailing edge of the aileron.  Van's details this in the front of the builders manual and you do this during the empennage stage also.  The idea is that the RTV will dampen any vibrations on the trailing edge and prevent the two stiffeners from rubbing on the opposite side.

Cleco the bottom skins to the spar, and start dropping in CS4-4 blind rivets.  Pull, lather, and repeat...

After I completed riveting the bottom skins, I inserted the end ribs, and finished riveting the nose ribs.  It is important to review the rivet call outs carefully, there are a couple of different sizes that will be required in this area.

One aileron finished (minus the hinge brackets).

One more aileron to go.