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
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