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Dent in vertical stabilizer

msmst25

Well Known Member
I finally felt that I had enough practice to start riveting the vertical stabilizer. I think that my son wasn't holding the bucking bar tightly enough and let it bounce off the rivet, denting the skin from the inside. Can someone let me know if this is something that can be repaired or if I need to start over with a new skin? It appears to be less than a 1/16".

https://youtu.be/_aZl6ST59Os
 
Call your local ?Paintless Dent Repair? guy and he?ll probably be able to make it disappear. If not he can make it a shallow inward dent that can be filled before painting.
 
Dent

That is not just a dent, it is a priceless memory of time with your son.

The perfect airplane has never, and will never, be built...
 
That is not just a dent, it is a priceless memory of time with your son.
I have one of those. Fortunately it is on forward most skin on the tailcone. So, when it disappears behind the paint on the outside, every time I crawl into the tail cone, I will be able to see it. Bob, thanks of the perspective, I will forever look at that dent differently.
 
Thanks

I will share your comments with my son. I had to make sure he knew I wasn?t mad at him, since I was pretty frustrated when it happened. But only frustrated with myself. Glad to know it shouldn?t be a big deal.
 
That is not just a dent, it is a priceless memory of time with your son.

The perfect airplane has never, and will never, be built...

Amen!

Mine has little reminders like that too and it just adds interest and character.

And there will be more dents and dings later on, from normal use, but it will still be safe, and fly just as well!
 
Dent Removal

Check out Sakkie VanHeerden at Serpentine (the guy with the RV-8A and twin jet Cri-Cri). He is an ace at paintless dent removal.
Cheers,
Rob
 
Doesn?t look too bad. I find that if I?m using the help of somebody with less experience, put them on the gun. The more experienced person should be on the bucking bar. Sounds backwards, but try that on some scrap and see if it works for you.
 
I had a couple of those on the HS - barely noticed once the airplane was flying. The imperfections you notice will be ignored by almost everyone else.
 
Matt
try and use your back riveting plate on the outside and tap that area with a sheet metal hammer or a brand new ball peen and it should virtually disappear for you, got to hold that backing plate tight to the skin , or remove all the rivets and use your back riveting plate like a anvil , that way you have lots of area to work with , one of my skins was damaged in shipping and now it?s invisible
Good luck !
 
I know it?s a mental setback and your son is probably sick to his stomach. You might be able to remove a few rivets to get inside the vertical stab and slowly work the ding out with the bottom of a kitchen spoon in a circular fashion starting on the outboard edges of the ding and working towards the middle. It will be a slow process, but it works. There are other threads on this subject that addresses refining the ? spoon technique?. I?d sure give it a whirl before I ordered a new skin.....tomorrow will be a better day and it won?t look bad at all, 20,000 rivets from now....just my $.02.
 
I've got a somewhat different issue, although it does involve a small dent in my rudder, and rather than start a new thread I though I would plumb the depths of the minds on this one. When I was putting my rudder halves together on my -14, the stiffeners on either rudder half are fastened together with those LP4-3 pop rivets. Well when I was pulling the squeezer for one of those rivets and it finally "popped", the rivet gun jerked back and down, hitting the sheet metal on the half that was laying flat on my work bench. It put a very small pimple like dent in the sheet metal. So, looking at the rudder from the outside, it literally looks like a pimple sticking out. No more than 1/16 or even 1/32 high. Before I rivet in the rudder assembly structure, which would seal off access to the inside of the rudder, is there any technique I can use to reduce this small dent, or even eliminate it? Or do I just chalk it up to garage-rash? Remember, it's a dent from the inside pushing out.
 
180 kts

At 8,000 feet and 180 kts with a grin so big you won't be able to see the dent
We all got em or we didn't build the bird. Enjoy the journey. Art
 
It happens (and will happen again). Kitchen spoon can work miracles, and paint guys can help. Build on!

You rock! The kitchen spoon, especially one from my wife's finer collection of utensils, worked miracles. It got rid of the "pimple" and, although you can see where it was at (if you knew where to look), the final paint job will eliminate any evidence of it entirely. Thank you!!!

Now, I just have to deal with my wife...
 
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