Building the Empennage
Discover the foundational steps of my RV-7A build, starting with the empennage kit. This section details the construction of the horizontal stabilizer, elevators, vertical stabilizer, and rudder, along with the essential fiberglass work.
The empennage is often the first kit builders receive from Van's, making it a critical starting point. This initial phase involves constructing the horizontal stabilizer, elevators, vertical stabilizer, and rudder. It's where many fundamental building skills, such as riveting, deburring, and fitting parts, are honed—skills that will be used throughout the rest of the aircraft project.
Empennage Total Project Hours: 60
Active section is the Horizontal Stabilizer (rudder completed on 7/20)
Horizontal Stabilizer - ACTIVE
4/8/2026 (2 hours)
Rear spar
Steps 1-4
Rear spar cleco, drill, deburr
4/9/2026 (2 hours)
Rear Spar
Steps 5-12
Hinge brackets - mount to rear spar, drill holes, deburr, then rivet. At this point in the manual, I need to start assembling the skeleton, however, the front spar and a rib are on backorder. Will pick this back up after parts are received.
7/20/2026 (1 hour)
Front Spar
Steps 1-4
Nothing major here, just separated the two HS-00001 parts then cleaned up the edges. Next, clecoed the HS-710 and 714 reinforcement angles to the HS-702 spar. Measured and marked the bend line. The spars come straight, there needs to be a 6 degree bend in them, this will form the sweep back of the leading edge of the HS.
7/21/2026 (1 hour)
Front Spar
Steps 5
HS-702 - drilled the relief holes at the proper spots. Cut the rib web per plans. Cleaned up edges.
7/22/2026 (2 hour)
Front Spar
Steps 6-12
Trimmed the inboard ends of the HS-702 flanges. Bent the tab as shown in HS-702 Front Spar Tab Detail using blocks of wood. Clamped the HS-00001 spar doublers to the HS-702 spar channels. Match-Drilled #30 the inboard holes. Drill/match-drilled all the holes inboard of the HS-00006/HS-00005 rib attach points. Tapered the ends of HS-710 and HS-714. Bent the outboard ends of HS-710, HS-714. Dimpled HS-702 and countersink HS-710 and HS-714.
Vertical Stabilizer - COMPLETE
4/11/2026 (2 hours)
Skeleton
Manual section 6-5
Steps 1-7
Skeleton assembly, skin fitting, fluting, all drilling of ribs. Skin match drilling will come next.
4/12/2026 (6.5 hours)
Manual section 6-5
Match drilled skin to skeleton, deburrred all, dimpled skeleton and most of skins. Will complete on the c-frame dimpler once I get a new spring for it. Prepped skeleton for priming.
4/14/2026 (2 hours)
Manual section 6-5
Finished skin dimpling with Gunnar. Started VS rear spar riveting. We had a couple of bad rivets that needed drilled out and set again but all in all ... went well. Gunnar learned quite a bit today!
4/15/2026 (2 hours)
Manual section 6-5
Steps 1-4.
Drilled out a couple of mistakes and riveted as well.
4/16/2026 (3 hours)
Manual section 6-5
Steps 4-5. Riveted skin to skeleton and skin to spar. Also rear spar rivets.
Vertical Stabilizer is now complete!
Rudder - COMPLETE
4/21/2026 (2 hours)
Manual Section 6-5
Steps 1-2.
Stiffener fabrication for right-side skin
4/21/2026 (2 hours)
Manual Section 6-5
Steps 1-2. Stiffener fabrication for left-side skin. Cleco all on. No pics.
4/21/2026 (4 hours)
Manual Section 6-5
Steps 3-8.
Cleco all stiffies on. Drill, debur and then dimple all. Started back-riveting. Left skin good to go except one stiffy. Started right side and screwed up. I was back-riveting and started on a rivet that was at the edge of the backplate. So, ordered a new skin and stiffies. Costly mistake.
4/21/2026 (1 hours)
Manual Section 6-6
Steps 1-6.
Fabricated shim. Assembled spar, bottom rib, horn (trimmed to fit bottom rib), shim and front side reinforcement plate. Match drilled to #30.
4/21/2026 (1 hours)
Manual Section 6-6
Steps 6-7.
Added reinforcement plates and top two ribs. Then match drilled to #30. Trimmed R-710 per drawing. Now on hold because missing R-913. Van's sent the incorrect part in the kit. They sent 713 which is for another airplane ... not the 7. So, that makes 2 sections on hold - Rudder and HS!
5/11/2026 (1 hours)
Manual Section 6-5
Steps 3-8
I received my oops stiffy finally last week while I was away for work. Took the time to cut, drill, prime and rivet it.
5/13/2026 (1 hours)
Manual Section 6-5
Steps 9
I received the missing counterbalance skin from Van's. Clecoed it in and and drilled to #40.
6/15/2026 (1 hours)
Manual Section 6-5
Steps 4
The new left skin finally arrived a few weeks back. I managed to get some time on it tonight. Just getting my bearings with the stiffeners I already made and what I have left to do. Identified the cuts to be made.
6/16/2026 (1 hours)
Manual Section 6-5
Steps 4
Fabricated the stiffeners, deburred, dimpled and primed. Same with the left skin.
6/17/2026 (1.5 hours)
Manual Section 6-5
Steps 10
Back riveted the stiffener onto the left side rudder skin. Clecoed the skins to the skeleton and the R-916 rudder trailing edge in preparation for drilling.
6/19 - 7/20/2026 (12 hours)
Manual Section 6-6 and 6-7
Steps 11-17: Building the Rudder, Steps 1-7: Riveting the Rudder, Steps 1-3: Completing the Leading Edge of the Rudder
After taking a break from updating the website, I’ve made significant progress on the rudder, with just one rivet hole left to tackle in a particularly tight spot. I plan to seek advice from the local EAA chapter on how to proceed with that. My time was spent constructing the rudder, which included fabricating essential parts like the bottom attach strips and shaping the rudder brace. Once everything was assembled, I disassembled it again to deburr, dimple, and prime the components.
The next major step involved riveting everything together, particularly focusing on the trailing edge. My goal was to ensure it remained as straight as possible, as the thin metal can easily warp. To prevent this, I used an aluminum angle, matched drilled it to the trailing edge, applied tank sealant to the AEX wedge, and then assembled it with the angle before riveting. While Van's provides a lengthy process for this, I discovered a much simpler method on Mike Bullock's page (see here for more details).
Next, I bent the leading edge, which required a 1-inch pipe, plenty of duct tape, and a lot of twisting to achieve the correct form. It wasn’t easy, but I think the result turned out well. Only time will tell (10-20 years) if I encounter any cracking around the joints, as the purpose of the bending is to alleviate pressure where the two parts meet for riveting.
Gunnar also joined in helped a number of times but I only captured a few photos of his handy work on the leading edge.
Elevators - ON HOLD
5/14/2026 (1 hours)
Manual Section 6-8
Steps 1-4
Since all other areas are on hold due to parts, I decided to start on the elevators. First step is to fabricate the stiffys. I did so for E-720A-C.
5/20/2026 (1 hours)
Manual Section 6-8
Steps 1-4
Fabricated the remaining stiffys for the right elevator. Clecoed to skin.
5/23/2026 (3.5 hours)
Manual Section 6-8
Steps 1-4
Fabricated the remaining stiffys for the left elevator. Clecoed to skin. Match drilled both left and right elevator stiffys and E-616P to the elevator skins. Deburred all stiffeners and E-616
5/26/2026 (1.0 hours)
Manual Section 6-8
Step 4
Gunnar and I deburred both elevator skins. Dimpled one elevator skin.
5/27/2026 (1.0 hours)
Manual Section 6-8
Step 4
Gunnar and I dimpled the left elevator. We made a mistake with the c-frame dimpler and missed a hole to the side. So I drilled two holes on either side halfway in between and then dimpled. Flattened out and drilled out the oops hole. Then went on to dimple all stiffeners.
5/28/2026 (0.5 hours)
Manual Section 6-8
Step 4
Quick night - just primed the stiffeners.
6/15/2026 (2 hours)
Manual Section 6-8
Step 4-6
Match drilled the E-615PP to the the left elevator. Dimpled, deburred, primed and then riveted the platenuts to it. Also, riveted all stiffeners as well as the 615 to the skins. Started on the rudder left skin... see that section for more details.
