Now that I had the rib, I finished drilling the VS skeleton.
Here are the parts drying after being prepped for priming.
While I'm on the topic of priming, I guess I should finally mention what primer I use...it's the AKZO 2-part epoxy primer. It was just under $100 from Aircraft Spruce. I basically mix up really small batches at a time. Pour in some primer, pour in the 2nd part (accelerator, I assume), mix it up and wait 30 minutes (I mix it every few minutes just to be cool). After the 30 minutes are up, spray it on. It dries in 15-30 minutes, depending on temperature and humidity.
Here are the VS skeleton components after being primed.
After the primer was dry I riveted the VS skeleton together. I then remounted that vertical 2x4 between the jig and the ceiling joist. But this time I had to add a 2x4 chunk spacer in between it and the jig cross member. The reason for this is that the VS spar is wider than the 4x4, and the 2x4 vertical member should not interfere with the spars. Anyway, here's the VS skeleton clamped and bolted into place, square and plumb.
It was 11:30pm, and I had already drained the compressor and was pretty much ready to shut down the shop. But I was so close...I fired the compressor back up. I went ahead and drilled the skin to the skeleton.
Here's the finished (drilling) vertical stab, complete with precisely 100 clecos. When I removed them all and took the skin off, all of my holes were centered on all the ribs and spars. This is much better than the job I did with the horizontal stab, which needed a few extra rivets here and there to compensate for my lack of skill at that point. Seems like everything's coming along nicely now.
