RV6 Empennage Kit
The Empennage Kit or Tail kit is the best part looking back over the years because so much is done for you. It comes in a cardboard box about a meter square and 200mm in height , and everything is very well packed inside. The first job like all other sub kits supplied by Vans is to check off all the components against the packing list. The first section of the aircraft to be built is the Horizontal Stabilizer. It consists of a rear spar assembly with a skeleton and a one piece top and bottom skin. Most of the work is done on the bench and finished in the H frame jig. Before any riveting is done all the parts were cleaned with 3M pads and primed with a MIL-SPEC 2 pack ANZOL aviation primer.
The second section is the Vertical Stabilizer and again it is a rear spar with forward skeleton supporting a one piece top & bottom skin , which can be built on the bench. The empennage kit comes with all the skins cut and pre drilled so its just a matter of building the skeleton and slipping on the skin and match drilling.
The third sections are the rudder and elevators which have a rear spar but no internal skeleton. Vans uses skin stiffeners to give the structure its rigidity. The skin stiffeners are manufactured by the builder and are repetitive and labour intensive. They are attached to the skins using a method called Back Riveting which produces a high quality finish on very thin skins.
Below are some pictures showing the sections described. I have made it sound very easy in principal but it still took me 12 months of spare time to complete.
RV6 Horizontal Stabiliser in H frame jig ready to fit skins.
RV6 Horizontal Stabiliser with 032" 2024 T3 Skin partially fitted.
RV6 Vertical Stabiliser skeleton under construction
RV6 Elevator skin being fitted with stiffeners