It’s been bitterly cold, and Mother Nature brought our little airport to a standstill by dumping 10.5 inches of snow on us at the beginning of the week. I always hesitate to share my love for snow because, in this area, snow tends to be dreaded. But for me, it feels special—something rare and magical. It takes me back to childhood days sledding with my younger brother and sister, the joy and exhaustion of snow days.

So, we decided to have an adult version of a snow day. We spent the day shoveling and snow blowing our driveway, helping out some neighbors, and clearing snow for family close by.

After two days, we finally accessed the hangar and managed to pull off a short but productive work week filled with riveting—both literally and figuratively.

We started the day by finishing the dimpling and countersinking needed before reassembling everything. Once the countersinking was done, we moved on to riveting the spar and doubler plate together.

This sparked the inevitable Primer Wars discussion. For those unfamiliar, Primer Wars refers to the ongoing debate among experimental plane builders about whether to prime parts of the plane. Here’s how Sam and I approached the issue:

• Vans Aircraft coats all their aluminum parts with Alclad, a protective layer that prevents corrosion.

• Their building manuals specify priming parts not protected by Alclad.

• Sam’s 59-year-old Cessna 150 has no corrosion, despite no priming.

We decided to prime areas as directed by the manual, any non-Alclad materials, and places where different types of metal touch.

With that decided, we primed our first parts and riveted the front of the vertical stabilizer skeleton together. Then, we clecoed the skin to the skeleton and called it a day, wanting to have our work reviewed before closing up the skin in case anything needed adjustment.

Today was a big day—we had our first visit from an EAA Technical Counselor, Tom Ward. Tom, a member of our EAA Chapter and approved counselor, plays a key role in ensuring our project adheres to FAA guidelines, detecting issues early to avoid costly mistakes, and helping us earn our FAA Airworthiness Certificate when the build is complete.

The visit went great! Tom’s report confirmed we were on track, and he even complimented our riveting skills, saying our rivets looked better than those on his own build.

With his approval, we felt confident to rivet the skin onto the vertical stabilizer. This part was nerve-wracking because any mistakes would show as dings on the otherwise smooth surface. Sam and I developed a system:

• I handled the rivet gun and called “Ready” when I was securely against the skin and prepared to pull the trigger.

• Meanwhile, Sam would slide his arm into the vertical stabilizer holding the bucking bar and when he was in position, he responded with “Long,” “Medium,” or “Short” to guide the duration of riveting.

This communication ensured we formed the rivet heads properly without damaging the skin. Once the flush rivets were done, we attached the rear spar to the vertical stabilizer using the pneumatic squeezer. Although we followed the instructions carefully, a few rivets couldn’t be set as directed, so we paused to research solutions.

After some late-night research, Sam realized that reversing the rivets in certain spots would have allowed us to use the squeezer more effectively. Here’s the logic behind our initial decision:

The instructions didn’t specify rivet orientation for this group, except for 22 flush rivets.

We prioritized aesthetics by aligning the manufactured heads.

Standard rivet placement considers material thickness, exterior orientation, and ease of installation.

Though our reasoning was sound, reversing the rivets would have eased installation of these final few rivets. With this insight, we completed the remaining rivets, using the pneumatic squeezer when possible and the rivet gun when necessary.

And just like that, the first component of the empennage was complete!

With time left in our workday, we moved on to the next component: the rudder. Building the rudder involves some part fabrication, so we started by laying out the skins on the workbench and measuring the skin stabilizers. After identifying three additional parts requiring fabrication, we packed up for the weekend.