RV-10 Fuselage Stand

I drilled out the F-1015 ribs without any damage to the airframe, amazingly. Some rivets are really easy to drill out and some others are tucked away deep inside and going through multiple layers of aluminum. I drilled a #40 hole into the head of the #4 rivets, popped the heads off with a punch, then used the rivet gun against the punch to "hammer" the rest of the rivet out of the hole. This seemed to be the best way to prevent any damage to the airframe.

The entire front half of the lower fuselage is almost complete. I prosealed the skins under the firewall and, what started as an accident, prosealed the splice of the fwd and aft skins. I started prosealing the wrong side of the skin but ran with the mistake anyway, I figured it wouldn't hurt to proseal the first splice aft of the engine and whatever it feels like spewing out.

I also built a stand for the fuselage so I can get this thing off the workbench. I have a single picture right now, after the airplane is sitting on it I'll try and remember to take some more detailed pics.

Also, last weekend we had a trip up to STL to visit family. Solid IFR for about an hour and a half and I kept thinking how synthetic vision will make this so much better, not to mention a functioning autopilot. I gave my wife a little flying lesson on the way up (VFR), since the autopilot wasn't functioning, that was fun and helped pass the time. On our way home we had a monster tailwind and reached 165kts groundspeed, RV-10 speeds!, in a C172.

Date Hrs
16 2.5 Pro sealed skins
17 2.0 found rib problem
18 2.0 drilled out single rib
20 8.0 drilled second rib. Bolted two halves together. Built stand. Bolted more things. Bolted a couple other parts. Riveted seat well tops.
21 4.0 Started bending longerons