It's been far too long without an update

Sorry for the lack of updates over the last few months.  We have actually done a lot of work but it's hard to document all the progress in pictures because there are so many small pieces that need to be made.  This is essentially the part of the plane that holds the engine onto the wings so you can imagine that it requires extra strength and extra parts.

Since the last update we have finished manufacturing (meaning taking a piece of aluminium angle or sheet and making a part according to the plans) various parts including:
- all the stiffeners for the forward fuselage
- various gussets and other reinforcement brackets
- the main landing gear spacers and brackets
- different bulkheads, armrests, etc
that includes all the match drilling of the parts

And today Darren worked on the rudder/brake pedals while I installed and match drilled the last pieces of bulkheads, reinforcing pieces, side panels and floor pieces for the baggage compartment.  The baggage compartment was a few different parts but it was not particularly comfortable as I was working underneath the fuselage for most of the day.  Darren had to make a lot of parts for the rudder/brake pedals which involved the normal, sometime tedious, measuring, cutting, deburring and match drilling.  And he got to do it 4 times (a left and right pedal for both sides).

For next time we need to finish up the rudder pedals, install the floor stiffeners and then it will be time to take everything apart (after we label each piece extremely well) for deburring, dimpling/countersinking, prepping and priming.  After that we can begin final assembly on the fuselage.  We're starting to run out of fuselage parts which, for awhile, didn't seem like it was going to happen so it's a good feeling.

September 15, 2012

Front fuselage assembly under-way

From another angle

October 6, 2012

More work on the front section of the fuselage

October 20, 2012

Starting on landing gear support piece.

Progress being made - slow but steady....

November 3, 2012

Scott priming landing gear support pieces

The pieces Scott was priming cleco'd back in place

Foot Pedal at the starting point

November 10, 2012

Foot Pedals mid-ways along

Foot Pedals nearing completion

Baggage Area

Back to work

So after a summer full of travel delays, landscaping projects and just other things to do we got back in the shop this weekend and worked on the forward fuselage.  There are a lot of parts to make and install so this is going to take a little time to finish up.  So this week we worked on installing some of the longerons, match drilling some stiffeners and making some parts.   It's nice to get back in the shop even if the outside temperature is still pretty hot.

The pieces laid out.

One of the pieces drilled, and clecoed into place

One of the pieces installed.

One of the pieces still in progress.

Finished the rudder (yes, the rudder)

Believe it or not we finished riveting the rudder this weekend.  It was one of those things that we set aside (you kind of glue the trailing edge and leave it for a while) and forgot about.  So we decided to just get it done.

Landing gear holes

Tonight we spent a couple of hours working on the forward fuselage.  We finished match drilling the firewall (including the two top steel brackets).  Finally we cut out the main landing gear holes and drilled the holes for the brake lines.

Back to work!

We returned to working on the plane today and it was a day of great visible progress.  We started off by drilling the forward skins to the longerons and then we installed the firewall and bottom skins.  After some fine tuning we were able to clamp and then drill the side and bottom skins to the firewall.  It's great to see some progress again.

Time For A Short Break

Scott, and I both have a pile of work around our houses and yards piling up, and are more or less taking the month of may off from working on the plane in an attempt to catch up.

We have not been doing a very good job of snapping picture of our progress as of late, but I have included everything  I have taken in the last month.

Progress has been slow....  We have just finished drilling the longerons.  We need to trim them slightly, and then we will be moving on to attaching more pieces up front.  But that will all have to wait for June.

More fuselage work

This weekend we continued to work on the main fuselage. We first installed the arm rests in the cockpit area. This was just straightforward fluting to make the curved piece straight. Next we rolled the edges of the side skins and began match drilling the side skins. We also installed a few little pieces but they're hard to explain in text. 

Darren at work under the Fuselage.

Our growing wall of plans

Scott working on rolling the side skin.

The fruit of Scott's efforts

Darren being surprised by the camera.

Attaching the Centre Fusalage

We made even more exciting progress this past weekend. We connected the centre fuselage to the aft and clecoed in the main front skins. We also did a bunch of other work like cutting holes for the steps, etc. It was a weekend of great progress. The fuselage is sure getting big.

Scott trimming one of the parts

Clecoing the fuselage from the inside

The centre fuselage joined to the aft

The side skins installed (the firewall connects at the front of the skins)

Progress!

Today was a great day. We finished bending the longerons (which are neither as big of a deal as we thought they would be nor as easy as many people said they were). Of course, we also had to do some cutting on the longerons (notches, etc) so that they would fit. After that we drilled the armrests* to the longerons and then installed the longerons in the fuselage. We're poised to make some rapid progress when we next return to the shop and attach the centre fuselage to the aft.

* Actually, after looking at the plans they're way too high to be armrests, it's more accurate to call them the upper aft canopy deck.

Bending the longerons

Before I start the first thing to know is that spell checker changes "longerons" to "longhorns" so if any of my posts have "longhorns" in them just assume that I meant "longerons"

So we started bending the longerons and it is possibly the most frustrating part of the building experience (so far). The longerons are long aluminium "L"'s that go from the firewall all the way to the tail on either side of the fuselage. They need to be bent to conform to a curve. Aluminium "L" doesn't like bending in a curve, it likes to bend in 2 dimensions. So it's very time consuming but we're making progress. Don't expect many pictures because it's really not all that photogenic. :-)

Catching Up On Posting Pictures

A few more pictures of our work have been added to past posts, and I have added all the pictures taken since out last posting in December.  Enjoy!

January 14, 2012

January 14, 2012

January 22, 2012

January 22, 2012