So how, exactly, are the rivet lines made?

I see them tacked down on the panel lines and sticking up a bit over an inch and a glue gun, then they're down to the surface level.   What is the step that shortens it, just screwing it all the way through the paper, or cutting off a nib under the head of rivet and re-gluing that in the hole made by the full size rivet?

All this talk of rivet and unlike the shuttle tiles, I have no idea what the latest state of the art in rivet installation technology is.

Update 3/10

I survived!!!!  


The Seniors did not like the idea of "Art Camp" over Spring Break....   go figure.  


I had to find an alternate "rivet" product this morning, as we ran completely out yesterday, after I bought out the last couple pounds from the lumber store.   They won't have more till next Friday.   They did have a slightly longer nail, that has the same size head on it, so we can use those.  We might cut them short to save a little weight.  

As I said yesterday, our initial paint showed some real problems with our excess glue around and between rivets.   Student sanded each rivet line, then in-between each rivet, then using a sanding bits, ground off as much as we could.  This was a good lesson in making sure we don't do this again, although I don't think these were the riveters responsible.   They weren't in a great mood by the end of the hour.





We immediately started rolling a new layer of paint.


Much better.   The warping in the panels will lesson when it dries.




When it dried, we flipped the wing and began working on the underside.  Students made quick work of getting new lines on it.


We began drilling new holes right away, even without any "rivets" to glue in.  




Not cutting our original "rivets" has left us with a bit of a problem under the flaps.   We didn't envision this being visible when we started.  We will come up with something.  


Fuselage continues to get more and more details as we paint around some, sand some problem areas, and patch over others.






Engine cowlings continue to get refined.  Symmetry is something we are stressing with these.

We got a long ways today.    Some work left to do for sure when we come back, but wow.   Pretty cool things happened today.

Update 3/10.2

Much to explain, and we've got some problems that need worked out, but this is too cool to wait to share.  

The same thought crossed my mind looking at photos the other day.

3/13. Spring Break update!

Friday was a good day for us, even with many students missing.  

We got all the lines laid out on the bottom of the wing, and started adding rivets.


The nails visible under the flaps.


We did start cutting the new nails to reduce weight and make sure we don't have the longer version to poke through the skin along the edges.


The dragon egg dispenser drone is coming together.


The memorial is coming along.    We are discussing ways to 3D print the plaque, or maybe laser engrave it.


The cabin relief sculpture is also turning out great.    The perspective is an interesting problem for my artist to handle.   It's not easy.  She got the upper deck on, as well as the upper part of the chimney next to the deck.


Of course, the mounting of the engines really grabbed many students attention.    We want to make them removable for now.    We decided pvc posts would offer us a good base.


We cut holes for the pipes to go through and hold the engines in place.   We also had to cut and add a little bit of wood that we could use to anchor the back of the cowling to the wing.  



The wooden blocks allowed us to screw through the exhaust pipe, the wood block, and down into the wing frame.   We also had to reinforce the wing stringers that we were attaching to.   This allows us to remove one screw, and slide the cowling off the wing.


We realized we have a little problem with the outside cowling.   To get the props aligned,  we have to mount it out just a bit from the wing edge.   This is going to require us to add a bit of foam to the cowling.  
We also think we've got a bit of an alignment problem with the faces of the cowlings.   Both seem to be canted out about 1/8 of an inch.   We think we can cut the outside edge away and shim it.   I'm also thinking we need to look at the angle of the whole cowling.   I think they are aimed down slightly more than they should be.  We will have to take measurements from the 1/48 model when we get back.   Not sure how we will fix that.   Swimming the back might do it, or recutting the shape of the cowling mating surface might also be the way.  Lots to look at next week.



Even with the little problems we started discussing, students were pretty psyched to see them on the wing.   It was pretty awesome.  With these projects, there is always that moment when when it finally starts to become "real".   I guess that's what I would call it.   This was kind of that moment for this year.  

+ $50 for nails and pvc fittings
__________________________________
Total cost as of 3/13/23
$2605.00

Maybe cant the whole wing 10° leading edge up to make the engines parallel to the ground?    Is there a bit of slip in the PVC mounting allowing it to tip back and forth that short distance which turns into a big gap once a couple feet away?

Update 3/17. Spring Break coming to an 3nd.  We will be back on Monday.

I got a shipping notice for the kids & staff shirt order. Keep an eye out for your order over the next week.  


I grabbed a couple pics when I was in a couple days ago.  
You can see the fitment of the cowlings mating with the wing.  


How we are handling the nail ends inside of the flaps housing.   Some we are cutting off, others we are covering with more drawing board.  Paint will follow.


Access to the cowlings for the motor install.  


Gap on the outer cowling that will need to be filled with foam.  


Here you can see the angle on the engine cowlings, compared to the wing.  We will have to take measurements on the 1/48th scale model when we get back and find out how far off we are.  

Thank you.   We will see what Monday brings.  

Update 3/20
One day before incoming freshman orientation....

We began this morning by looking at our engine mount geometry.   We used the 1/48 model to establish the drop needed, based on a line between edges of the wing root.   From there we measured the drop to the top of the cowling.  We weren't off by much.   We were 1/4" low, so not terrible.  Much less than I anticipated.



We easily got our horizontal line set up on the root, then used a level to help us establish the correct drop.




Cowling on the right is shimmed.  The left cowling is loose so we can skin under it and add the shim.


Skinning around the cowlings, and adding rivets.


Nose cone construction.


Dragon egg drone getting sealed up after making sure the arms are secure.


Sandbags for the FuGo balloon bomb.


Fire plume looks good lit up.


More work on the Granite Mountain mural memorial.


Storm shutters starting to go up on our tower.

I take it she was unaware that a photo was going to be taken?  Getting all those facesev en close o correct on a mural is a big task.  Faces are hard to draw/paint/color.

The only whine I have right now is the fire in the upper plume of smoke go one tick toward orange and the as one tick toward yellow, maybe one or to steps if the control is easy.  

Has anybody received their T-shirt yet?

There is a National Crop Duster's yearly award that is named for my wife's father.  He was killed when she was 6 after he landed his plane on a road next to a field he was working and tried to help an illegal alien that had crashed his car into a irrigation ditch and was swept into a culvert.   Her father drowned trying to save him.  

My MIL had to sell their crop dusting business in Yuma, AZ after it happened.

Pics??  

I get a little nervous after the printing error last year.  

Update 3/21

I wanted to extend a huge THANK YOU to @FestusMcGee for sponsoring some of the costs for the students' shirts.  I got this in the mail today.  Really cool, and the students were very excited to hear that this morning.



Our 1/6th scale smokejumpers chutes are making good progress.


Yesterday afternoon, we cut the faces off of the cowlings and realigned them to be perpendicular to the wing root line.  I'm hoping we are correct, but once on the fuselage will be the best way to see if we need to do any other modifications.   There are lots of areas that need cleaned up all across the airframe.   The paint really brings out our missteps.  






The cabin model is getting more and more details.

6pm-8pm tonight.  

Several Seniors will be here to help with orientation.    Not sure that's a good idea, as they were discussing what topics they were going to discuss, rivets being one of them.

Hell Yes!!!!