LOL, thanks guys... good to know I'm not alone in the "special" corner of the classroom.
Just one update picture and I'll move onto how I apply these rivets. Flaps and ailerons are done and I've moved onto the bottom of one wing.
There are essentially 5 main tools that I'm using here.
The basics are a ruler and a vinyl measuring tape. The tape is the kind you can get at the fabric store for garment construction. It's soft and will not scratch the surface of the metal and can be easily cleaned with whatever. I'm using a strip from a rivet application kit I picked up years ago. Really it is for creating raised rivets but the spacing is what I'm after. While my last build (Corsair) was entirely done free-hand, I wanted this to be all that much more special and have better spacing on the rivets. Curved areas are still free-hand. The maker can be picked up at
this link. It has a water-based ink which beads on the surface of the metal but I'm just using it as reference marks. It cleans up easily with window cleaner but the real reason for it is in the tip. Again, we are dealing with a SOFT metal. A fine-tipped sharpie will leave marks or lines once the ink is removed. The tip is so feather soft that you can BARELY feel the marker touch the surface. It is essentially a watercolor marker. You can see in the images how soft the tip is and the pool of ink it leaves as well as a lack of marking in the test panel.
The last item is a thin metal tube. The ID is 0.7mm with an OD of about 0.9mm. Before you get all excited, there is technique involved with using this tool. You cannot simply press the tube into the surface. You risk puncturing the foil and if you don't the mark will likely bend the foil on the periphery. What I do is place the tip on the surface, apply light pressure, rotate the top end around, and you are left with a nice donut on the surface. The idea is to not just create a circle. You need to create an outer ring and an inner ring. Try to zoom into some of the pictures I've previously posted. Lighting is tricky on the reflective surface but once you find one you will clearly see what I'm talking about. There is an impression of a ring where the center bulges a bit where it is basically flush with the rest of the surface. This takes practice but you can quickly get into a rhythm and get these knocked out in less than a second for each one.
Let's do some math. Assume 20K rivets applied at a rate of approximately 1 every 1 second (on average). (
20000 rivets / 1 second) * (60 seconds / 1 minute) * (60 minutes / 1 hour) = about 5.6 hours.
This does not include time to measure and mark reference lines and re-positioning yourself or the part for a better angle, and stretching your hand to keep it from cramping. Figure double that amount of time for the process at least. Given that I've put in about 4 hours in total to all of the control surfaces, this seems about right.