Tonight I got the bagagge compartment rib structure assembled and riveted to the bulkhead forward of the baggage area Power outlet bracket Riveted part of the aft landing gear brace to the seat rib Assembled the loading step mounting structure. I realized there were a few parts I forgot to prime the other night.
Wendy helped me dimple the holes in the bottom center skin Back riveted stiffeners, nutplates and doubler plates to the center skin Riveted landing gear brace to the center skin Wendy helped me rivet the seat ribs to the center skin Seat ribs and bulkheads riveted to the center skin
Riveted seat ribs to aft center bulkhead Modified flange bearing per plans Riveted bearing and bearing bracket to the fwd baggage bracket Traced cut-out for landing gear in left and right forward bottom skins Cut out the landing gear slot Countersunk doubler plates Drilled various systems holes in bottom skin per plans Finished the night off priming the rest of this sections parts
Riveted reinforcement doubles onto baggage ribs Dimpled, then riveted nutplates onto seat ribs Riveted bushing clips onto seat ribs Rivet seat rib doublers onto second from outboard seat ribs Riveted crotch strap brackets onto seat ribs Fluted the outboard seat ribs and outboard baggage ribs so they fit the contour of the center bottom skin Riveted nutplates onto the outboard seat ribs
Tonight I deburred and primed most of the mid lower structure parts. There were a lot of them.
Tonight I finished working on the forward middle bulkheads.
Bearing brace brackets riveted together Countersunk holes in the forward center section bulkhead Riveted nutplates onto the forward center section bulkhead Riveted the cover ribs and side angles onto the forward center section bulkhead Riveted the bearing brace bracket to the cover ribs and the web of the center section bulkhead Reamed the holes in the forward center section bulkhead
Today I continued work on the forward middle bulkheads
I started the day off countersinking holes in the aft center section bulkheads
Next I prepped the remaining parts of the middle bulkhead for priming
Bearing bracket countersunk and ready for priming Parts primed Riveted the nutplates onto the aft center section bulkhead Riveted the side angles onto the aft center section Riveted the bearing bracket together Riveted the bearing bracket and nutplates to the cover ribs
Today I started working on the forward mid fuselage bulkheads. Some of the steps required the use of a reamer, both a .311 and .375 reamer. I missed that when reviewing tools to buy for fuselage work. Luckily McMaster-Carr is open on Saturdays for a half day. $45 and 1 hour hour drive later I was back in business.
Mid fuselage bulkheads parts primed Started riveting the doublers and side channels together Time for some reaming Reaming holes in the bulkhead Rear wing-spar attach bars riveted together Reamed the attach bars to the bulkhead Bulkhead all done for now with the attach bars temporarily bolted on
Tonight Wendy helped finish sorting the the parts and hardware. Inventory is now complete. Looks like a couple of hardware bags are missing. I’ll contact Van’s on Monday to have them sent out.
Today the Fuselage kit arrived! This evening Wendy and I cracked open the crate and began inventorying. We almost completed inventorying before it got to late. We still have a little bit of hardware to go through. We should be able to wrap it up tomorrow.
Opening up the crate Wendy removing the packing paper from the crate Wendy and I inventorying parts.