LeSving wrote:
This is why people start with the horizontal tail, and builds two of them
I have made a few mistakes and had to order a few replacement parts, but I do not intend to make such a mess of it as to build two horizontal stabilisers! The riveting process is not the major risk to parts, in my view.
Graham wrote:
The riveting process is not the major risk to parts, in my view.
Not if you know how to do it. It also depends on where you set the standard for yourself. There is nothing a “good and thick” spackle/paint job cannot hide 
If there is something even worse “bad taste” than bulbed solid rivets on skins, it’s a thick paint job. But again, we are talking about taste/appearance. They all seem to fly just fine regardless.
As the Vans CEO said in that video (or perhaps another one) was that it’s up to the builder what he wants to do on the RV-15. If the builder wants solid rivets, he can use solid rivets. If he don’t want to bother with solid rivets, he can use pulled rivets. IMO it won’t make any measurable change in the structural integrity of the airplane throughout it’s lifetime. One major difference though. With pulled rivets, one man can do everything. With bucked rivets, two persons are needed lots of places.
