Tonight I started off by tapping the 4-40 holes in the tail light bracket from last night. Then I moved onto trimming, drilling and riveting on the top rudder fairing. Then I got started on the right elevator fairing. After trimming and drilling the fairing it was time to countersink the holes in the fiberglass. I got a little overzealous with the countersink and ended up wallowing out some of the holes to large…so the blind rivets weren’t going to grab on some of the holes.
Tonight I drilled the holes in the lower rudder fairing and mounting tabs on the rudder. Then I installed the nutplates onto the mounting tabs on the rudder. After that I riveted and epoxied the mounting bracket for tail light in to the back of the rudder fairing.
Holes drilled in the rudder fairing and the nutplates holes drilled out in the mounting tabs Riveting the nutplates to the mounting tabs Holes drilled out in the back of the rudder fairing to mount the tail light The mounting bracket riveted and epoxied to the back of the rudder fairing
Tonight I squeezed a quick hour in a trimmed the lower rudder fairing.
Started to trim the fairing Test fitting the fairing to the bottom of the rudder
Today I match drilled the horizontal stabilizer to the aft fuselage. That about does for aft fuselage work for now. I’ll be working on the fiberglass tips for the next few weeks until the wings arrive
The horizontal stabilizer mounted to the aft fuselage Had to use the angle drill in order to drill the lower holes A proud man!
Today Zak came over to help out. We spent the afternoon drilling the holes in elevator horns. It was slow going but we did a good job. We had to machine a drill guide on the lathe to make sure we drilled the holes in the horns perpendicular.
Zak putting the bolts and nuts on to mount the elevator so we could drill the holes Machining the drill guide on the lathe
Tonight Wendy came down and helped me mount the elevators to the horizontal stabilizer for the first time. It took a lot of trial and error to get the bearing adjusted for the proper clearance between the leading edge of the elevators and the rear spars of the horizontal stabilizer. Next up i’m going to match drill the holes in the elevators horns, which is is a slow and tedious process because you want everything to be precise.
Tonight I riveted the rib and j-stiffener to the top skin. Then I dimpled and deburred the side skin. I won’t be able to rivet either of these skins on at this time, because I won’t be able to get the assembly out of my shop, into the basement with the side skins on. So I’ll have to leave them off to the side until later in the project, when I’m ready to mate the rear fuselage to the aft half.
Tonight I got a little bit of work done on the plane. I temporarily mounted the Vertical Stabilizer so I could back drill a couple of holes for mounting bolts. Then I dimpled and primed the top skins of the aft fuselage.
The vertical stabilizer mounted to the aft fuselage. Looks pretty cool! The top skin and components dimpled and primed.
Tonight I primed the parts for the aft deck and then riveted them together. I had to do some match drilling for some brackets as well. I also ran the antenna cable for the ELT.
The aft deck primed and clecoed on. I'm back drilling holes into the horizontal stabilizer attach bracket. The aft deck riveted on The molex connector for the trim servo.
Tonight was a short night. I installed the static ports and static tubing. Then I did some wire cleaning up.
The static tubing connected to the port. RTV sealant is used to make sure it doesn't come loose. Another shot of the static runs to both sides of the fuselage