"asennad" wrote in message
om...

My thinking is that the aircraft's aluminum skins could be attached
over a wooden buck and adhesive used to attach the skins. Once the
adhesive has setup, the bulkheads could be installed, holes drilled
and rivets set. The rivets would still from the primary means of
fastening the panels and the adhesive could serve as extra
reinforcement.

You don't understand the process. Follow me
for a minute. If the rivets are stronger than the
adhesive, the adhesive only adds weight to the
structure. If the adhesive is stronger
(it is by the way) then the rivets serve no purpose
...... So why are they there????? Because the
rivets hold the structure in place while the adhesive
cures. Holes and fasteners are the cheapest
tooling you can use when gluing structure together.
Older alum race car tubs got glued together and
used pop rivets to hold it together while it cured.
The bond lines can only accept shear loads, not peel
loads so attachment of secondary structures to
the tub was usually mechanical fasteners. We
glued tubs together not because it was strongest,
but because it was the fastest way to get it done
and meet our design goals. Bonded aircraft are a
similar story. Its economics vs performance.
Somewhere there is a bean counter that has a curve that
shows the most economical way to get it done.

Scott