Tonight I started out by riveting the reinforcement angles located in the aft most compartment. Then I riveted on the rudder stops. Then it was time for the nut plate in the aft compartment to be riveted on. Lastly I ran the UAT cable to the back of the fuselage
Rudder stops riveted on Had to dimple the nut plate before installing them Nut plates installed Rudder cable guide installed A shot of the rudder cable guide from the inside UAT cable ran The UAT cable runs to the second most aft bulkhead
Today was a marathon of riveting. Zak came over and put in some hours to help me get the aft fuselage side skins and bottom skin riveted. Big thanks Zak!
The aft fuselage with the side skins and bottom skins all riveted together
Tonight I primed the the side skins and longerons. Then I started to install systems components like the rudder cables and wiring harness while access is still good. Then Wendy came down and helped me get the assembly clecoed together for riveting.
Aft lowe skin and aft bulkhead riveted together Side skins and lower skin/bulkhead assembly clecoed in place The aft bulkheads and some of the systems wires Some of the systems wires and rudder cables.
Tonight Wendy came down into the shop to help me do some riveting on the aft fuselage. Then she helped me dimple some large skins (she’s the best wife!). I countersunk the longerons and dimpled the last of the j stiffeners. Tomorrow I’ve got some priming to do before it’s back to some more riveting
Bottom skin riveted to the bulkheads Another shot of the bottom skin riveted on Aft side skins dimpled Longeron countersunk I got my new c-frame rise table kit from cleavland tools today.
Tonight I got started on riveting the aft fuselage together. First I had to dimple and prime the j-stiffeners, bottom skin and the forward aft fuselage bulkhead. I finished the night getting several of the bulkheads clecoed to the bottom skin. Tomorrow I’ll start riveting them on.
Dimpling the j-stiffeners Dimpling the bottom skins Forward aft fuselage bulkhead dimpled, primed and nutplates riveted on Battery angles riveted to the forward aft fuselage bulkhead The bottom skin clecoed to the a couple of the bulkheads and battery angles The assembly clecoed together from another angle
Tonight I worked on assembling the aft fuselage bulkheads. Drilling, dimpling, priming and riveting them. I also did some work on the battery tray brackets.
Aft fuselage bulkhead riveted together. The ears sticking up will be used to mount the horizontal stabilizer later Next aft fuselage bulkhead deburred, dimpled, primed and riveted together. The tab on the bottom is a guide for the rudder cables Another aft fuselage bulkhead deburred, dimpled, primed and riveted together One of the battery tray angles with the nutplates riveted on The battery tray angles riveted onto the bellcrank ribs
Tonight I started off fabricating the rudder stops. Then I moved onto to bulkhead work. I got two bulkheads drilled, dimpled, primed and riveted. It’s started to get late but I managed to get one more drilled, dimpled and primed. I’ll have to rivet it together tomorrow. I tried using the Stewart Systems waterborne primer on the first bulkhead tonight. It worked pretty nice, but doesn’t dry nearly as fast as the SEM EZ Coat I’ve been using.
Today I got started on the aft fuselage, also called the “tail cone”. It was mostly prep work like trimming and fabricated brackets. I did get to use my milling machine for something! That was fun!
This is what I've got ahead of me in the next section These brackets had to be cut apart and trimmed and deburred Trimmed the end off this bracket per the plans Had to do some fabricating on this bracket.
Tonight I got the elevators finished! I even got to do a little electrical and safety wiring!. Time to move on to the aft fuselage.
Now that the sealant is cured I finished riveting the trailing edges elevators. Here's the right elevator Left elevator trailing edge complete Trimmed and bent the end of the trim tab hinge so it can be safety wired once installed Time to safety wire the hinge.
Tonight I got most of the riveting done on the elevators. The trailing edge ribs are glued in with sealant and now all that remains is to rivet the trailing edge tomorrow, after the sealant cures.
I started the night blind riveting the forward ribs to the forward spar Some new toys for the shop. The pneumatic squeezer and long reach yoke are going to be great additions to the shop.